Wanderings in the Waking
by Lunar
Summary: Ashley, now RoodBearer, must face down forces beyond his imagination and together with Sydney must discover the power within to overcome all who would attempt to enslave him. Shonen-ai, language, violence. A sequel to "Ashes."
1. Default Chapter

Wandering in the Waking: part 1

A series of impressions of daily, and nightly, life.

* * *

"I never could tolerate any of that existentialism shit."

-Sydney

* * *

Winter had settled in firmly in the high valleys and ridges. The wind moaned through the thick groves of pine trees and hissed it way over the now barren high-meadows. Its touch was bitter, as it froze the skin and the tiny flakes it carried stung the eyes. It was a desolate place, the high country, full of mountains and clouds and storms. The few scattered farms clung to the lower, tamer, valleys their rough weathered walls giving silent testament to the tenacity of man. From a distance they almost resembled rabbit warrens half buried amidst the snow, their chimney smoke the only sign that life remained. For those who did not live in these simple homes there was only one alternative, the forests, deep and black they stretched up the valley walls and were home to wolves and bears and other dangerous things. 

Tam gently knocked his pipe on the doorframe and swept the icicles from his short beard. Inside, his wife, ever cheerful was singing as she cooked dinner, her voice occasionally audible over the sounds of the wild. Their cabin was large and immaculate and both it and Tam were shrouded with the means of his living, the carefully tanned pelts of animals. Tam kept an eye on the wood-line, marking the precision with which the trees halted several hundred feet from his door. Wincing against the wind, he inspected his fences for the fifth time, waiting. The cold had finally pierced his many layers and he was about to go inside when his sharp eye picked out a darker shape detaching itself from the trees and moving slowly, carefully, towards his house.

"Well I'll be damned."

He lifted his arm in greeting to the other man who replied in kind, shifting a pack from off his shoulder and climbing over the fence. Tam checked his pipe once more and cracked the door open briefly to alert Mary.

"One more for dinner, Luv, that crazy bastard made it after all." Quickly closing the door again to keep out the chill he returned his gaze to the rapidly approaching hermit who he felt pride in calling friend. 

"A bit chill today for gathering wild flowers." Tam's voice was a lazy drawl, his smile sharp. Dark eyes met his in good humor from deep in the hood, the hermit's only reply an eloquent snort. The two trappers clasped-arms familiarly and Tam waved his friend into the cheery light of the cabin.

"It's Ash!"

"It is lovely to see you, as ever, Ash!"

Mother and daughter chimed in unison as they set the table. The little girl's blonde braids bobbing excitedly as she ran to assist papa and his guest in setting their frozen outer-clothes by the fire to thaw. Pulling off the cloak and pelts and overcoat so traditional to the region, Ashley allowed himself to stretch a moment, loosening his chilled muscles. Heidi wasted no time in tidying up after their important guest and soon was happily settled in her father's lap, staring avidly at him. Mary had no such shyness and continued to shuttle plates from the stove to the table prodding her guest gently to a chair along the way.

"Do sit down Ash, you know our house is yours for as long as you're here." 

Tam nodded agreeably and then pulled out a small jug with a devilish smile. "Sit! Relax! Share the spoils of my victory over Old Howell! That bastard drives a tough bargain but I had him this time… if only you'd been there… his face puckered like a lemon!"

"If only he'd stop talking about it!" Mary laughed good humoredly at her husband's pout, and ruffled his cropped hair. 

"This was before the storms? A long time… "

Ashley's voice, always low and gentle, was rough with disuse but still drew a smile from the little girl. Tam smirked again and shifting the child, poured 2 cups of the potent brew. The two men reverently touched mugs and took careful sips; Ashley was obliged to cough his appreciation as the liquor scorched down his throat and settled warmly inside him. 

"That must have been some face, I think you got his private stock this time."

"Ah look at you, you've got tears in your eyes! Welcome back to civilization Ash, you really ought to be on speaking terms with it more often… You've been living up there with those damn wolves so long you're starting to smell like one!" Mary scolded him with a look and coaxing her daughter into a chair began serving dinner.

* * *

Ashley had never intended to befriend anyone when he arrived at this furthest edge of the countryside. Far from the cities and politics of the south the mountains attracted him with their promise of remoteness and isolated beauty. He had promised Sydney that he would not look on the Dark as a burden, and in truth he didn't, but this did not mean that he was comfortable with it. The truth was that dealing with people in any large numbers made him tired, and more than a little anxious. Their thoughts crowded him, even when he blocked them out, a continuous distant murmuring, rather like waves on the ocean, that hovered at the edges of his hearing. Where there were people there were also ghosts, and they were even worse because they knew what he was. The first time he had seen one he nearly choked on his drink; in a crowded tavern an old man had boldly dared to join him in his booth only to proceed to start a conversation by lifting his head off his shoulders and setting it on the table. The deceased butcher, as it turned out, was more than content to spend his afterlife in his favorite pub and was more than willing to share his knowledge of the region, but had a distressing habit of pinching the barmaids when they came to refill Ashley's drink. The knight decided to return to the road after the second girl slapped him mid-apology. He was in no mood for such nonsense. The next ghosts he encountered were of a more pitiable kind, a mother and child who had died earlier in the autumn of a fever. Confused and lonely, the young woman spent some time simply following him during his errands asking him about why it was that she could not go on to Heaven. Ashley had wanted to help her, but in the end did nothing, uncertain if he could do anything that wouldn't be more harmful than good. The Dark was all about reanimation, not absolution, and he didn't think the village would appreciate him creating a zombie by accident. 

But in the end it wasn't the noise or the petitions of the dead that drove him to seek solitude, it was his desire for peace. The more uninhabited the area, the less the Dark stirred and twisted, he found it's urgings and desires calmer, controllable. The solitude also allowed him to relax, no-longer having to be anything, anyone, he could stop pretending to be what the VKP had wanted him to be, or pretending that he wasn't. The Rood took care of his physical needs remarkably well, he ate little, and was never ill, and even the arctic temperatures only bothered him out of a sense of obligation, as if feeling the cold was a habit he couldn't quite shake. Ashley lived deep in the woods, too far for even the most gregarious neighbor to attempt lightly, and too humbly to be of interest to the occasional outlaw, not that any tried. He hunted and trapped as he wished, but mostly he meditated, gathering up the scattered pieces of his life and trying to reassemble them into some sensible pattern. 

// If Sydney were here he would call it brooding…// Ashley smirked to himself and leaned back in to a tree, the first snows of autumn already falling. He had settled into the woods at high summer, ignoring the disbelieving looks of the shop keep at the last village he passed through. The winters in the region were legendary killers, and although it was barely September the high mountain stream he was fishing in had a generous sheet of ice across its flatter portions. It had been nearly 2 months since he'd last spoken to another human and the knight was content. However thinking of his deceased blonde friend quickly brought his mind to Tia, and the source of much of his troubled meditation.

// She'd have loved it here… the air is so pure… I remember her dreaming we could travel to the mountains… but /when/ was it? Before we were married? After? Why can I remember some things so very clearly and other things are simply blank? I can remember Marco, his eyes, his smell, the way he gripped my finger when he was newborn… but what was the date? How could I forget the /date/? My son's /birthday/… I should know these things… //

Ashley rubbed his forehead to forestall the headache he felt building behind his eyes. It was always the same; anytime he looked to closely at the blank spaces in his mind the pain would start. Like a man prodding a healing rib, he continually pushed himself, risking dizziness and nausea in the hopes of discovering /something/, another memory reclaimed from the abysses in his mind. He stared idly at the twine dangling idly into the stream, it was entirely the wrong time of day for fishing, but he had felt the need to be outdoors, and this was a good excuse as any.

// Father was fond of fishing… whoever he was… // Ashley killed the thought with a sharp oath, and pushed himself to his feet, the need to escape from his troubles was unbearable. His sudden movement startled any number of small animals who had all but forgotten he was there, and he idly watched them dart for cover, their simple fear sounding like high pitched whispered babble in his mind. The knight pondered the sound for a moment wondering if the 'noises' they made were in fact proof that the simple creatures had thoughts of their own or if it was his own subconscious trying to make sense of sub-human emotions by giving them human attributes. 

// I don't want to die! //

Perhaps it was because he was trying to listen closely, perhaps it was because it was so quiet, perhaps Tam simply had an incredibly loud 'voice', but for whatever reason Ashley snapped immediately alert as the thought echoed across his mind. At first he could do nothing but stare dumbly at the squirrel chattering at him from a nearby branch, but he shook himself and immediately dismissed the idea that it had mastered human speech. 

// This is fucking /great/… They'll finally find my corpse next year and laugh themselves sick at how Tam was brutally murdered by a /tree/… It's not fair. // 

Ashley almost laughed as the other man, apparently somewhat near by, continued to project his distress. The thoughts were faint, but the very clarity to them and the fact that there was no other human around for miles made it child's play to trace. From the random images that the knight deciphered a trapper had gotten himself caught under an old deadfall. He was painfully pinned to the ground and likely to become dinner to the local predators before morning. Oddly enough, for all the man, realized his fate was marked, his thoughts were free of fear, for the moment. Ashley couldn't keep from smiling as he followed the trail; Tam continued to rant a stream of self-recriminations, mocking his own foolish pride that trapped him so.

// Ah well, it's not as though I could just leave him there. He's loud, and would likely get louder if something did decide to eat him. I'll pull him free and tell him to shove off, and then things will be quiet again… //

Still, the knight couldn't help but feel a small prick of curiosity, at this humorous hunter who had entered his forest. 

//stupid! stupid stupid stupid!…//

Ashley rolled his eyes and continued down the slope.

* * *

//If I live through this…. Mary's gonna /kill/ me… // Tam stretched a hand out in vain for the hand-axe that he had dropped when the tree fell, but with his shoulders effectively trapped there was no way he'd get the leverage he needed to stretch that far. 

// I refuse to die in such a half-assed fashion… all the wolves will mock me before scoring their free dinner… //

He ceased his squirming for a moment, panting for breath, and then the instincts that had made him both modestly wealthy and renowned in the valley came alight with a vengeance, and he held his breath feeling something draw near.

// Idiot! You should've been paying more attention, flailing around like a yearling /of course/ something noticed you! Christ but it's gotten quiet… whatever it is… it's big, and silent too, not good…//

Tam blinked the sweat out of his eyes and attempted to slowly, quietly, crane his neck to get a view of what was about to finish him. What he finally saw was more terrifying and more surprising then he could've possibly anticipated.

Ashley perched on the downed tree carefully, making sure that the trapped man felt none of the additional weight. The hunter was well and truly stuck, comically splayed under the massive trunk, legs kicking uselessly out from one side while his head and arm were free on the other, one arm was apparently pinned underneath the tree's girth. He looked as though he had been swatted face first into the ground; the area's boggy nature and soft soil the only thing that kept the scenario from having been deadly. The man, had grew suddenly still, and with slow careful movements attempted to look upwards, over his shoulder. He gave a yelp as their eyes met.

"Hello Tam."

Ashley jumped off the trunk and crouched in front of his beleaguered visitor. Despite his lack of practice, his voice was surprisingly normal.

// What the hell? How the fuck does he know my name? Are you a…//

"Ghost?" Tam choked out a startled question.

Ashley pondered the question, he had determined the hunter would be of no threat when he arrived, and out of habit had stopped listening to the man's thoughts. Unlike his mentor he derived no pleasure in feigning omnipotence.

"Do you mean to ask if you are? Or are you implying that I am…" The knight picked up the hand-axe and after a cursory inspection, used it to shred the bark off a nearby piece of lumber.

"I don't know you, how do you know my name?!" Tam watched uncertain if he was more perplexed or angry with his bizarre companion. From his awkward angle looking up he observed the obvious hermit as the man fiddled with a scrap of branch. The man was /large/ there was no getting around it. Strong arms and muscled legs were readily apparent despite exceptionally odd sized and much repaired clothing. The stranger was dressed in the same mottled shades as himself, tones meant to blend quietly into the wilderness, to make invisible. Even the man's skin, what was visible, was of a tanned nature, not surprising for one who chose to live in the wild. There was something however that was very curious about the hermit, and when he realized it, he almost laughed out loud. The 'wild-man' was almost impeccably clean, from his long unruly reddish-brown hair and beard to his old, tall utilitarian boots, he was a model for well-kept homeless men everywhere. It was utterly absurd.

The object of his study simply blinked at him, obviously attempting to dredge up long lost conversation skills. "Your name is Tam, you were talking to yourself… just now… I heard you." 

"Oh…" It wasn't the most intelligent response of Tam's life, but given that he was feeling more than a little like he was dreaming the whole encounter, it was the best he could manage. "So…" He cocked his head meaningfully at the tree trunk. His companion simply stared at it, then him, then the tree again. "Could you help me get out from under this bitch please?" Tam voice was plaintive as he fought the urge to sigh in exasperation.

// He's no demon… touched… definitely a little touched… but just a man after all…//

Tamgrinned in encouragement as his would-be-rescuer nodded sternly and rose to investigate the trunk, moving beyond his range of vision.

"Do you think you'd be able to crawl out from under? If the trunk were lifted a little?"

"Umm, sure, nothing's broken… I'm a right lucky bastard I suppose… but this thing must weight 400 stone! How in heaven do you intend to budge it?" Tam craned his head frantically trying to see what the hermit was up to.

"Prepare yourself then." The quiet voice gave no additional warning, and to the trapper's shock and amazement the trunk shifted slightly and then lifted several inches, freeing his arm and torso. Tam wasted no time in rolling himself free of the old tree, but was still sneezing, clearing the dirt and dust from his face, when he heard the trunk settle once more into the soft soil. 

// How'd he do that?… I can't believe I missed it… he doesn't look like a man who just lifted 400 stone of lumber… //

The tree trunk looked even more impressive now that he was no longer /under/ it. The hermit moved to stand near him, looking unfazed at the immense piece of wood. 

"I don't believe it," Tam stared at the taller man, and back at the tree. "I abso-fucking-lutely don't believe it." Shaking himself he turned again to his savior. "I owe you my life, friend. Anything you want, if it's in my power to grant, you've got it."

Ashley started at him a moment, and started to laugh. Seeing the other man's confusion he controlled himself. "I need nothing, my only desire is to be left in peace." He turned, intending to let the trapper find his own way back home.

"/Wait/!" Tam fearlessly leapt to his feet and grabbed at the retreating man. "At least tell me your name! My wife and daughter will want to say a prayer for you!" 

"Name? My name?" The man shook himself loose and kept moving into the trees. "You can call me Ash."

* * *

The fire had long since been banked, and after an evening of quiet banter the trapper finally sought the comfort of his bed. Ashley wrapped himself with a quilt and curled contentedly in front of the fireplace, and listened to Mary's sleepy complaints as her husband settled himself at last. The cabin was warm and quiet, and totally at peace. The knight smiled in the darkness as he let his eyes close the need for sleep one of the few truly human attributes he had left. He felt his body relax, and within moments he was Dreaming.

The sudden disorientation and the sensation of falling had become expected and familiar sensations. Ashley opened his eyes again and found himself in the gray mists, tendrils of smoke gently coiling around his body. The Shadow-Land was always the same, the never ending gray, the mists and Müllencamp. It had been nearly six months since Sydney's death and every night since then he had come here. In the beginning she had always been waiting for him, but despite both of their best intentions, things had not progressed very far.

//I guess she's still sulking from what happened last time… //

It was ironic that he found himself the principal disciple of a goddess who had no effective way of communicating her desires to him. They had discovered early on that she could easily express her emotions and general desires through their bond. The one attempt they made at her sharing her thoughts with him directly had resulted in him being thrown out of the Shadow-Lands, back into the Waking with a massive nose-bleed, and a migraine that lasted for two days. Needless to say he was not anxious to allow the woman to try that again, and given how green she had looked the next evening she felt much the same. Müllencamp was not a creature known for her patience, and her lessons were sparse and very short followed by periods of sulking. Ashley wasn't sure which times he preferred more, when she was lecturing him or like tonight /ignoring/ him. Still, he /was/ learning. In their last evening together she had finally made him understand enough to ask proper questions, although he did not understand most of her replies. The evening was almost becoming enjoyable when he had put an additional two-and-two together to ask a question he had wanted to since the beginning of their meetings.

// Just three little words, I should've left off when she didn't answer the first time but no… I assumed that I was asking wrong and had to try again… she must have thought I was accusing her of something… although based on the way she snapped I think perhaps I discovered something after all… "Where is Sydney?" what has happened…is he dead? Is he here… /somewhere/? The bastard spoke of this place as a fantastic playground of the mind… and yet I'm incapable of manufacturing naught but mist and more mist… the teachers at the Academy were right, perhaps I have no imagination. //

Having little else to do with his time until his body was rested, Ashley walked at random through the misty world, swatting at the fog banks in irritation. If he concentrated he could manipulate the smoke /a little/ his will stirring it up into frantic eddies and whorls. Permanent or solid structures were beyond his understanding, and he could do nothing but marvel when Müllencamp summoned entire rooms at will equipped right down to the inkwell on the desk. And Sydney, who had promised to live forever, was missing.

// Sydney. I'd rather have that whelp at his most egotistical here and now mocking me than another month of the cold shoulder from that lunatic-goddess. The two of them must have gotten along wonderfully; both of them have a distinct flair for an excess of melodrama. //

Ashley pulled his coat around him tighter, realizing neutrally that he was dressed as he was that night in Valendia. Usually when he arrived in this place he found himself back in his old Riskbreaker uniform, but in thinking of Sydney apparently his clothes had followed the timeline of his thoughts. Everything was transient here.

// At least I have control over my own appearance… that could've been embarrassing I suppose…Sydney… Are you here? If I am truly the master of this place then should I not be able to find you? //

"Listen to me!" His usually commanding tones sounding muted in the gray. "I may bot like you, and you probably don't think much of me, but I /am/ the Bearer! I wish to find a man named /Sydney/, my predecessor… Take me to him."

The mists swirled continuously 

"NOW."

The knight put as much authority and venom into the word as possible, putting the entirety of his focus and anger behind it. The mists shuddered, and as he concentrated on his desire, they began to swirl again, this time with a definite direction. Grunting in satisfaction Ashley followed the hint of a path that the Dark had laid out, his head already beginning to pound. 

At first he thought his tired eyes were playing tricks on him, but the further he walked, the less likely it seemed. The mists were beginning to take on form and substance, and as he followed the path it was as though he was entering different reality. The grayness remained permeating everything but there was suddenly distinction, a grayness that was land, and one that was sky. Then the ground took on texture and forms; gray grasses rustled as he walked and to either side of him gray trees loomed tall and silent. He blinked tiredly and between one moment and the next, there was /color/. There wasn't much, the tones muted and dark, but it was there. The woods were dark, and the sky above was filled with stars, in the shadows of the trees there were random natural sounds, and in the distance, he almost swore he heard the sea.

// It looks real… sort of… almost like a dream of a place very well remembered. I wonder whose dream this is…certainly not mine, but Müllencamp's? But that doesn't seem right either… //

The path continued further, its silver surface alluring in the artificial moonlight. Ashley couldn't help but smile a little as he picked up his pace, the never-ending gray had been tedious but this, this was almost beautiful. He didn't know how it was that he had come to this place, usually the Dark lead him around in endless circles in the mist. He was here now however and was loathe to leave with our experiencing it to its fullest. His stride had become a ground-eating lope as he covered the wilderness, and in the distance he could see an end to the trees. Within moments he had broken out of the woods and onto a high bluff overlooking the sea. The 'moon' illuminated everything, the tall grass, and the sand, the wave crests and the woman wading in the water. Ashley paused. Müllencamp was singing, wading hip deep in the dark water she faced the sea and sang, the melody was old and strange but it gave the knight great comfort. Not wanting to disturb the goddess he sat by the edge of the bluff and watched, and she sang her siren's song to the tide. He therefore had an excellent view of the mystery that unfolded. 

* * *

Müllencamp waded into the waters without hesitation. It was an impressive world her newest-but-one son had wrought, and its crowning glory, the sea, was fascinating, even to her. The waters were cold and salty, and stretched to the false horizon, but that was simple enough to do. What struck her every time she came was the light, and its reflections. It was always night in this world, or at least it had been so far. The moon always shone over the water, and the waves always crashed on the shore, but never with a pattern. The waves, and light, and the clouds and the winds, every time they were different, every time they were beautiful. It was a curious mind she decided that was unsatisfied with a place that simply seemed unordered, but actually made a place that allowed chaos in its structure. It was new, different, and fundamentally dangerous, naturally therefore, she loved it. It was a perfect home for her most gifted and most perplexing servant. A servant for whom she had grown tired of waiting. Müllencamp moved her hands across the surface of the water, feeling its nature and energy, and thus its maker's. It was time. Müllencamp began to sing, her lilting voice echoing across the waves, summoning, beckoning, awaking her sleeping child. He responded slowly at first, but as his spirit awoke from its restful torpor the waters near the goddess began to churn, and at length, Sydney, staggered to his feet in the shallows, salt water sluicing off of his whole, naked, adolescent frame. Müllencamp's song came to and end and for a moment they stared at one another, an odd reenactment of how they first met. 

"Do you know who I am child? " 

The water was quite cold really. The analytical portion of his mind, always the first to begin to function began to abstractly ponder how it would be to warm the waters and what the effect would be upon the land and the wind, its hypothesizing happening independently from the main of his thoughts. Sydney stood carefully, and pondered the question, the answer was obvious but for him the challenge always lay in the /delivery/. Why walk when you could dance, why speak when you could /sing/. He smiled and executed a florid bow without a care at his lack of modesty.

"I know you perfectly lady, you're a /fisherman/, and a good one too. "

He laughed at her pole-axed expression and waded to shore adjusting his form as he went. Sydney's feet were those of an adult as he stepped onto the dry sand, and he primly adjusted the collar of the loose shirt he wore before pulling his wet hair back into a small tail. The newly awakened mage turned back to the woman, still staring at him from the surf.

"Coming? The water is really meant to be looked at, not waded in… far too cold for my tastes. " 

"Sydney, why do you call me a fisherman? I've been called many things, but never before have I been called /that/." 

He offered her a hand as she stepped out of the surf. "And that is precisely why I said it, I'm nothing if I'm not original. I'd rather be dead than bore you. " She snorted at his flippant reply and reclaimed her hand, waiting. "Oh you wanted a /serious/ answer? Very well, it is a metaphor, simply imagine /me/ to be a particularly dashing and handsome fish. Who but a fisherman could have lured me from the water and up onto the shore. " 

" I think perhaps you might make a very pretty fish little one…"

" I meant only to amuse, my lady. "

Müllencamp smiled, relenting. "You do amuse me troublesome child, else I've have not gone through all the trouble that allowing you to rest has caused me. You are well now. " It wasn't a question, yet Sydney took a moment to examine himself, turning his focus inwards. The draining wounds were repaired and his energies were balanced once more, the listless fading he had felt shortly after arriving in the Shadow-Lands had passed and having rested long and well he was ready for adventure.

" I feel quite energetic, my Lady. A pleasant change I think… I was weary of weariness."

"You should, you've slept for a fulsome length of time. I was beginning to grow irritable."

"May chaos /engulf/ me before that unhappy event happens. I had no feeling of time as I slept, was it so very long? "

"Long enough as time goes here, some six months' tally of days for your successor. Who I am forced to tell you is a King among Simpletons. "

"/Six Months/! Merciful Mother! Six months alone with Ashley, who can neither speak to nor comprehend you… yes I begin to see the source of your irritation… but still I'd hardly call him a /simpleton/… untrained? Certainly. Stubborn? Most definitely. An occasionally Bloodthirsty and bitter bastard? Well he has his moments. But none of those traits are particularly /idiotic/ in nature…Lessons haven't been going well I take it? " He sat and sympathetically patted the sand, inviting her to join him. The goddess sighed, and her veils jingled in the breeze as she rested her head upon his now fleshy shoulder.

" It has not been fun. " The goddess grumpily conceded, not liking to admit that anything was beyond her.

"And I'm certain that you have far more pressing things to deal with than trying to decipher your newest troublemaker, hmmm? Might I offer my services in this endeavor? " He schooled his face into careful indifference, it wouldn't do to seem over eager to see the knight again, nor to imply that Müllencamp /needed/ help from a lowly newborn spirit like himself. There were ranks and seniority's in all things, and in the Shadow-Lands the newly dead were rather towards the bottom of the order, despite the favoritism he was accustomed to receiving.

He needn't have worried however because Müllencamp put her head back and laughed. "You're the one who caused this /issue/ Sydney… Resolve it. That is my only instruction for you for the time being. You will teach that sell-sword how to speak prettily to me, and make sure he does as I bid him. Also see that he doesn't do anything stupid, your death was unavoidable, but losing a Bearer is traumatic enough that I have no urge for him to do anything sudden." The goddess straightened and pulled his head down to lay a kiss on his forehead.

"You have your work cut out for you I'm afraid…" Müllencamp rose to go, waving him to remain as he was. "Not that I think you'll mind the labor, of course." 

Sydney fought the urge to look away, and met her gaze resolutely, the beginnings of a blush on his cheeks. There was never really any way of hiding things from Her; it was foolish to have tried. He made to respond but she again waved him off, turning to contemplate the sea.

"Nice ocean, by-the-way. " Without further warning she vanished, her attention turned elsewhere now that her task was complete. Sydney shook his head in chagrin willing the pink from his cheeks.

// At least she isn't jealous… that would've been awkward… and unpleasant. She'll likely use it against me at some point though… Ah Ashley… I need be no prophet to foresee the amount of trouble you're going to cause me, and more than likely you'll be completely unknowing of it too… hardly fair…//

Sydney rose abruptly and dusted the sand from his leathers. The grains felt course and ticklish to his fingers and for a moment he allowed himself the childish delight of raking through the soft surface with his hands.

// Ah the perks of being dead… I get reunited with my arms… how… macabre. //

They weren't really his arms of course, his analytical side provided. /He/ didn't really exist, nothing here did. He was just a soul harnessed by its ties to the Dark, the fact that he had a form here was because he desired it, the fact that his arms were flesh, because he willed it so. Even the water, cold and salty, was nothing more than a mental exercise, a game, thus was the nature of the Shadow-Lands. Sydney gave his logical side a firm kick, sending it back to sulk in its corner, he had more important things to do than ponder the meaning of his own "afterlife." He conjured himself a jacket, a replica of one he used to be fond of.

// As I recall I wore it right up until the day they took my arms… I couldn't wear it anymore after that, I wonder what Hardin did with it, donated it to someone most likely, he knew I wouldn't want to be reminded of it… Such depressing thoughts! Enough, first things first, to find my errant Knight… or my Knight-Errant…// Sydney allowed himself a chuckle before heading for a natural break in the bluff. 

// Knowing Ashley, he's probably in trouble already… or lost…// The mage carefully picked his way into the grassy meadow only to stop dead. //Or /Right Here/ all this time… Oh Hell. // Sydney put his hands on his hips and gave the lounging knight a frustrated look.

"Hello Ashley, been waiting long?"

* * *

It was simply surreal to see him standing there. There was something so /normal/ about the man that had been hidden before. 

// It must be the arms… // Ashley pondered, inspecting the newly resurrected blonde. The man was dressed in a perfectly ordinary shirt and overcoat, his damp hair pulled back, he looked for all the world like a youth who had come from enjoying himself at the shore, a little sandy and wind blown but /normal/. The effect was totally spoiled when the man smiled. Sydney's face assumed its old familiar arch lines as he mocked his observer.

"What's the matter /old/ man? Miss me?"

// There he is, there's the arrogant bastard I knew. //

Ashley sighed and pushed himself to his feet, shaking off the feeling that he was talking to a ghost. Not that he wasn't, his reason replied, but that it didn't matter.

"You're late." The knight wanted to knock the smile off the cultist's face but he refused to be goaded by a dead man. No matter how tempting it was. 

"Indeed I am. Müllencamp tells me that you are a most exasperating pupil, somehow the news did not surprise me." Sydney surrendered his haughty pose, curiosity getting the better of him, and paced a circuit around the older man. "You seem to have acclimated well… your projection seems solid enough…" Ashley staggered slightly, Sydney's sharp shove coming as a shock.

"What are you…" The mage held up his hands in a placating gesture. 

"Just seeing if you're actually capable of reacting to the environment, you looked fine, but then when I first arrived I had all the physical presence of a ghost… it was very irritating… but then you've a much more solid connection to your body than I did then… Being a fighter probably helps too."

Ashley grumbled as the mage poked him again for good measure. "Inspection complete. So tell me…" Sydney assumed his most artfully air-headed expression.

"How have you been?… what have you done?…Kill any good priests lately?" The blonde's smile turned vicious.

// Definitely still the same Sydney… //

Ashley resisted the urge to sigh. "I did not appreciate being set up, to be honest, that caused me no small amount of … excitement."

"Well I'm impressed that I found some way to excite you… but I don't recollect attempting to deceive you… remind me, my memory of the occasion is undoubtedly flawed." 

"That night…You /said/ you would rejoin me outside… that was the /plan/… you didn't say anything about /killing/ him, did you not think that I might object your using my face for /murder/?" The feelings of abandonment and betrayal, forgotten for months, bloomed in his chest as if new.

// How could you, you self-centered prick. I /trusted/ you. //

"I didn't kill him."

"Liar."

"No, 'tis the truth. I meant to, but in the end, the plan was altered… and not by me." Sydney grimaced and made a careful study of the sea, avoiding the Riskbreaker's eyes.

"He killed himself." Ashley reexamined the pieces of the puzzle, not sure of what to make of the new evidence. "But first he stabbed you? Why?"

It was the blonde's turn to sigh. "Misguided mercy, I suppose. But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not have this discussion right now… It would require me to question my father's motives in structuring my entire life and that is a headache best left for another day. I died, it was an accident, and I am duly sorry for the shock it caused you. As for the rest, if you had left town when I told you, it wouldn't have been a concern."

"Very well," Ashley followed the mage's gaze out to sea and searched for a new topic. "You made this?" he gestured vaguely around him. His skeptical question drew Sydney back from his contemplation of the moon.

"Are you surprised?" The mage suppressed the urge to laugh at his companion's suddenly embarrassed twitch. "Yes, I made this…. It is my home… for now. You should have one too, but I imagine Müllencamp didn't get that far in your teaching."

"She is something of an impatient teacher." The older man commented dryly. "It is sad to admit, but I began to almost miss your senseless babbling… as arcane as it was, at least it was in mine own language."

"Have a care Riskbreaker, that almost sounded like a compliment…" Sydney felt his mood rapidly lifting, finding the man as fun to bait as before. 

"But where are my manners, here you have come to my home, admittedly uninvited, but come never the less, and I haven't offered you any refreshments." 

"I can do without seawater, thank you." Ashley allowed the smaller man to lead him around a grove and a little ways down the coast. He was obliged to blink however when a sturdy granite tower came into view, its four floor height easily putting its top level over the tallest trees. 

// That was not there a minute ago. It would've been plainly seen from the path. //

"Come in, come in, I feel like a cup of tea. You?"

* * *

Ashley woke up feeling more than a little confused. Usually he awoke more than ready to face the day, wandering aimlessly in the mist was far from entertaining, and 'conversing' with the goddess was frankly tiring, neither left him longing to remain. 

// It was so /real/… almost more real than here… //

He lay quietly in his corner, and listened as Mary quietly began preparations for breakfast, her husband still snoring. They would set out together at mid-morning, so he had time enough for the luxury of feigning sleep. Ashley could still almost taste the tea he had drunk in Sydney's tower. The ghostly hint of mint in his mouth was oddly at conflict with the more humble odors of the oatmeal boiling on the stove, and the ever present aroma of tanned hides. 

// I wonder what Sydney would think of my current living conditions… he'd probably have to sit down from the shock… I can almost hear him… "The Rood-Bearer /can't/ be a hermit… it's just /wrong/! you're suppose to be /out there/ doing /things/ manipulating people…" No, no realistically he wouldn't do that I suppose…. Probably just lift and eye-brow and give me that arrogant "all-knowing" /look/ and wait for me to attempt to justify him wasting his time on me… //

Ashley rolled over, contemplating the sturdy roof. Their conversation had lasted for a long time but the blonde had not yet inquired as to what he was doing at present beyond the most vague questions. With any luck the mage wouldn't probe to deeply for a few weeks, giving the knight time to determine the best way to break the news to the man.

// "what have I been doing?" nothing, "have I been practicing?" No, "why not?" why bother… oh he'll just kill me… I wonder if you /can/ be killed in the Shadow Lands… I'll have to ask him later. //

With a grumpy moan, Tam pulled himself awake and blindly grabbed for his shirt. "You awake Ash? Of course you are… always fresh as a bloody daisy…" The man continued grumbling to himself not really waiting for a response before staggering into the store room to check the pelts they would be hauling to town. Traveling in the icy winters was practically suicide for a man alone, no matter how experienced they were, sudden storms could alter routes, destroy cargo, or bury you alive in deep wet snows. The luxury of a mid-winter run to town was one that Tam was willing to risk however, especially with the aid of his mysterious mountain man. Nothing seemed to faze Ash, whether it was act of nature, devil, god or man.

* * *

"You seem really distant today, friend… and for you that's saying something," Tam's breath forked in abstract patterns as they cleared it the valley's ridge, Behind them the small holding was all but undetectable in the blowing snow. The day promised to be fine for travel, the sky was clear, and the winds had abated in intensity. Tam received no response from his companion and shook his head. The hermit was lost in his thoughts, head down, and breaking trail with unrelenting but mindless energy. The trapper had originally argued that the grueling work of breaking the path should be shared, but his friend simply ignored him, starting up the valley's side at a steady unwavering pace. Ashley never seemed to tire, or to feel the still harsh winds that met them as the left the sheltering dell. Tam suppressed a shiver of paranoia and resumed following. The hermit was friendly enough in his way, a good man despite his curious, and occasionally /unnatural/, habits. Tam trusted him, and wasn't about to let a few inconsequential incongruities prejudice him unnecessarily. It wasn't as if the hermit attempted to flaunt his oddity, it was simply the way the man was.

//And while it's alarming to have him go all /odd/ on me at times, it doesn't change anything. I'm a big enough man to admit that he's better than anyone I know, at any skill I can name, and not let it get between us… Hell, thanks to him Mary will get fresh supplies to keep us well fed till spring and maybe even a present for Heidi. //

* * *

The day's hardships flowed over and around Ashley almost as if they were happening to someone else. He tried to pay attention to Tam as the man shouted the occasional question or curse, but it was all he could do to hold himself still during their frequent beaks. His thoughts were unsettled, refusing to stay on any particular idea. In his mind he kept reliving Sydney's awakening. The younger man had arisen almost child-like from the dark ocean waters and something about the image struck him to his very soul. As if some part of him, something long dead had witnessed the blonde's rebirth and was somehow reborn as well. This unexplainable "quickness" that fluttered in his chest translated into a physical desire to /move/, to /go/. This trip was indeed fortuitous, if he had been alone he would have likely prowled the woods aimlessly for days, but here he could be useful, provided that he remembered to keep the pace reasonable for his friend. 

Traveling took the entire day, the two men arriving in town well after sunset. The path had hardened into a road of sorts and Ashley had no difficulties in following the flickering lights. Tam wasted no time in securing them a room at the tiny inn and they gratefully dropped their packs and cloaks before heading to the tavern below for a warming drink. Friends quickly surrounded the trapper as he made his rounds of the room, greeting people he usually wouldn't see until the thaw. Ashley took advantage of the cheerful crowd's distraction to slip unnoticed into a quiet corner with his ale. The barmaids shot him quick terrified glances from their cluster at the counter, each prodding the next to take his order. At length the eldest of the girls suppressed an obvious shiver and carefully presented a plate of stew and a fresh mug before scuttling back to the safety of her sisters. It would have almost been funny if they're thoughts had not pressed in on him so, as it was he concentrated very hard on finishing the meal that he no longer had appetite for.

// You'd think that I'd have remembered how irritating people are… I had gotten so used to the /quiet/ to be had in the hills… nothing like this…//

Ashley ate methodically and when a roar of laughter drew everyone's attention to the fireplace, he took the opportunity to silently leave, ducking up the stairs to his room.

// I have to stay focused. We'll be here the 'morrow and through the night before Tam can complete his barter and pack the supplies. Then we can go back to the hills… //

He raked a hand through the tangles of his beard and realized how long it had become since summer. Venturing to the empty communal washroom, he found a polished "mirror" of metal and started at himself on amazement. It had been some time since he had seen his own reflection, and the wild, hairy, mountain man that started back at him was a stranger. Ashley had prided himself on living cleanly, and took great pains that his gear and person were as well kept as possible, however his scant possessions did not include anything as vain as a mirror, and even the idea of one had never crossed his mind.

// No… no wonder they were staring at me…I look more bear than man. How convenient that I've grown so perfectly into the role I sought to play in these parts… I truly /am/ the frightening and mysterious hermit on the mountain top. "Don't upset him or he'll /hex/ you." Indeed… and that one girl was petrified I'd ask for a child for dinner… what nonsense. //

The knight frowned and retied his hair in a neat plait, then finger-combed his beard as best he was able. 

// The beard is useful, 'tis sure… a warm disguise in this cold place…. But a little trim is definitely in order… //

A quick search of the room however produced nothing suitable for the job and he looked doubtfully at his sword.

// /Hacking/ at it with that would only make this worse…Oh well, it can wait 'till I'm back home I suppose… mayhap I can recruit Mary into making me look semi-human again… although I can already hear Tam complaining about how I'm absconding with his wife…//

Surrendering to the futility of it all, Ashley settled into the corner of the room, leaving the long unfamiliar comforts of the bed to his friend. With a small sense of foreboding he fell asleep, and also into the Shadow Lands.

* * *

Sydney resisted the urge to shiver as he waited at the edge of the Shadows, at the point closest to the Waking world. The mists were not truly tangible but he disliked them and they gave him a wide berth, leaving him standing in a small featureless clearing. The ever present /nothing/ that described this region irritated him, so did the waiting, however both were inevitable so he put them from his mind.

// Where is that muscle-bound oaf… is he suddenly insomniac? Or has something happened? How in the Hell am I supposed to "keep an eye on him, Sydney" if I'm lucky to get him six hours out of every twenty-four? //

The mages worries were temporarily allayed when moments later the shadows began to eddy and a form stumbled out from them. The Riskbreaker had arrived.

"Hello Ashley." Sydney opted for a cheerful smile, quelching the urge to smack the tardy man.

// It wouldn't do any good anyway, he wouldn't know why I was hitting him… and he gets this "confused puppy" look that I just can't stay angry with…//

The knight blinked in surprise at the welcome, but quickly regained composure and acknowledged the blonde with a simple, "Sydney."

// Ah yes, a "WellSpring of /Conversation/" as always, old man… // The blonde shook his head in wonder. // No "Good to see you," or "What are you doing here." … What am I supposed to do? Ask him about his day? It's just so /tacky/… but then anything's better than this… //

He summoned another smile, cuter this time. " So… How was your day?" Ashley gave him another startled look in response, followed by what was almost certainly a blush.

// Now isn't /that/ interesting…. //

"Fine. Shall we go?"

// And a topic change…. Predictable, Ashley, very predictable. //

Sydney laughed, relaxing. There would be other times to tease his student, for now, there were things to do.

"Yes, the décor here /really/ clashes with my boots. Come along, we must correct this problem post-haste." He turned into the mist moving briskly, certain the knight would follow. Over his shoulder he could hear the man's incredulous mummer.

"…clashes?"

* * *

After Sydney's voiced dislike for the unceasing fog, Ashley was surprised when they seemed to reach their final destination, only to have it be, /more fog/. He turned curiously towards the mage, who was calmly inspecting their surroundings.

// Why didn't we go back to the seashore? Or the tower? Is there something wrong?… I haven't said /anything/…yet. //

He rubbed his forehead certain a headache was on the way. The last thing Ashley needed was a repeat of his erratic relationship with the goddess. The knight frowned. He respected Müllencamp, even found her beautiful in her way, he was sure he'd like her if he could only understand her. Silly as she was, Sydney often described her as "wise" and occasionally "wonderful." So far however, Ashley had only experienced "patronizing" and "irritable" not to mention "childish to the point of lunacy" but his opinion was admittedly biased. The knight vaguely wondered if it was a bad thing to call a goddess "an idiot" in her own domain.

// Well, she hasn't /smote/ me into spiritual ash yet… so I guess she either doesn't know…or doesn't care. //

"Ready to be tested on your first lesson?" The blonde's mellow voice immediately brought him back to the task at hand.

// Damnation, I should've known /this/ was why we came here… I can't very well say "No"… but this "playing God" nonsense definitely doesn't seem a good idea… //

Sydney blandly ignored his silence. "Then let us begin!… Start small, a warm up." He gave a generous wave on his hand,"… it can be an object of your choice."

Seeing no point in arguing with the mage, Ashley closed his eyes and called upon the energies of the Rood Inverse. Carefully focusing his will, he visualized his creation, how it would be, its weight, balance, and the feel of it in his hand. He could hear Sydney snort in mirth as the weapon took shape, but ignored it. The mage hadn't specified /what/ to make, and swords were something Ashley knew very well. If there were anything he could make, and make well, it would be this. He resisted the urge to smile as he added details to the blade. The final result, a rather delicate if vicious rapier, a gentleman's weapon. The knight inspected it carefully but it matched his intention perfectly, from the sheen on the edge to the tooling of the leather on the hilt. With a flourish, he presented it hilt first to his startled instructor, a present.

// At least I can still rattle the man. Gods know it's trite of me but it's damned fun to knock him off of his little cloud of omnipotence occasionally, he may be a bloody know-it-all, but he doesn't know me… not entirely anyway… //

The mage made his own careful inspection of the gift, testing the edge before sighing resignedly. "'Tis well crafted… The instruction I gave last night was of use? You didn't seem to struggle as you did before." The knight grimaced in memory of the previous evening, provoking a sympathetic chuckle from the blonde. "Well then… unless you want to "prove the obvious" /again/… I suggest that you get to work… you've given it some thought I hope?" Sydney adjusted his collar to disguise his nervousness and moved to stand beside the Riskbreaker. The sword was gone for the moment, either stored or dissolved with a thought. Ashley fought the urge to grind his teeth in worry and shut his eyes once more. As unnecessary as he knew it to be, he braced himself and raised a hand, bidding the Dark to obey.

// I /can/ do this… it'll be just like the sword, and the cup last night… only it'll be /a little/ bigger… Just go slowly, pay attention… there's no rush…even Sydney admitted that completing his world took time… was still "a work in progress" even. That confession cost him, he was almost /squirming/ when he said that…//

The shadows rippled and shimmered like cloudy water as the knight sought to master them.

* * *

"You /have/ to have a Homeland… /Everyone/ has one… even Mole… and he's crazy by even /our/ standards… no that his place is anything I want you to use as a template. So, it's ridiculous to say that you don't /want/ one…"

Ashley glared into his teacup, the beverage refused to offer him council in the face of the blonde's arguments.

"I don't /need/ one."

"You don't need…. What the Hell are you going to do? Wander around in the Grey all the time? You're /not/ staying here! …No absolutely not… I'd never get any work done with you always underfoot. Don't be so… so /bloody stubborn/, you need a Homeland, if only so you don't get lost in the mists one evening and Müllencamp makes /me/ come after you. It'll be your /Sanctuary/… a starting point. It cements your ties between this place and the Waking, a place entirely your own, nobody will bother you if you don't want them to…except Her… she goes where she pleases." Sydney continued on this new tactic, seeing that he was finally getting through to the knight. "It doesn't have to be as big as mine… or complicated at all… best of all you can change it as much and as often as you like… space is rather boundless here."

Ashley looked up, curious. "But I have little creativity for such things… how did you decide? What made you choose /this/?" He gestured around the kitchen. Seeing Sydney's surprise at the question he pushed forward. "You have an ocean you don't swim in, a tower of less than ten rooms judging by the size, and a great looming black forest with /one/ path… if you could make /anything/ why not build a paradise? Why not make whole castles? Or…" The mage cut him off with a wave of a hand, smiling in amusement.

"And what would I do, living in a castle all by myself?… no Riskbreaker, I like my tower very well… even if it does have only four rooms… 'tis cozy… As for paradise, how do you know that this /isn't/?" He laughed again. "Trust me, everything here is the way I wish it to be. No more, no less. When I was Bearer…it was here that I came to every night, my joy in the best times, my solace in the worst… So will it be for you."

"This place then… it is based on someplace real?" The knight followed his instinct, puzzling out the hidden reasoning behind the complex man's words. "A memory? Someplace you've always associated with sanctuary?" His gift for sensing emotion was seldom entirely accurate but this time he knew he had found the truth. Sydney's smile had turned rueful as he stared into his empty cup, the combative mood suddenly and completely dispelled. 

"Touché." With a quiet sigh the mage pushed himself away from the table and moved to look out a window at the sea. His voice was quiet when he finally replied, almost mournful. "Memory? Yes, this is a memory… or more correctly this is the interpretation on a memory of a place. The original is long gone." Ashley waited but the blonde showed no sign of willingness to continue. Shaking off the mood Sydney returned to the table and refilled his teacup by means of a simple /look/, the dark steaming liquid suddenly in place. "So, tomorrow I'll observe as you make your new home. You've got it, right? Here refill your cup…" The knight growled a complain and topped off his cup for the fifth time with a glare, changing the china pattern at the same time, just for spite. "Stop that! You have no taste when it comes to china, Riskbreaker… besides that cup is part of a set!"

Ashley grimaced and corrected the cup before returning to business. "If I /must/ make this place… why wait? Why not do it now?" He couldn't help but remain a little grumpy. Sydney's moods were impossible to predict the strangest things upset him or pleased him. It seemed fairly certain however that the mage's past was a topic that remained strictly off limits in polite conversation.

// Now he's going to be distant for the rest of the evening… Great Ashley you just /have/ to take every opportunity to antagonize the man… He /is/ your only friend in this mad place… not to mention the only thing currently standing between you and an eternity of Müllencamp throwing temper tantrums… // 

The knight ruefully met Sydney's eye, only to notice that there was cheerful twinkle in them again. The mage's expressive mouth tightly closed to prevent a smile.

// If I live to be a /thousand/… I'll /still/ never understand him. //

"Ah, how motivated you've suddenly become! But no, we shall not do this thing /tonight/. Building things when in a grumpy mood makes for "grumpy" things…besides…." Sydney reached across the table and poked the knight, /hard/. Or at least he would have, if Ashley had possessed any substance. Instead of hitting muscle, the prodding finger passed right /through/ the skin of Ashley's upper arm, and the knight flinched back in amazement, dropping his cup.

"What the Hell?!" Ashley looked at his arm in alarm but it felt whole and unharmed. Sydney tossed a droll smile and silently pointed out that the older man's remaining arm was in the process of passing through the top of the table. The knight stood up becoming more alarmed.

"/Relax/ Riskbreaker!" Sydney paused a moment, playing with the natural rhyme as the knight scowled in frustration. "Really, 'tis alright…. Nothing that hasn't happened before… did you never notice it 'ere now?" The man obviously hadn't and Sydney scowled in disbelief. "Six months of being here and he knows nothing… You're starting to wake-up, that's all… you're body's calling you back little by little…."

"Calling me back….? But it's never been like this before. Usually I'm just here… or I'm there. Look at me! I'm a ghost! What do I do?"

"Do?," The blonde made his way over to the slightly panicked knight. The man had backed himself into a corner and in his current state was in considerable danger of falling backwards through the wall.

//Well, if he does… at least we're on the ground floor. //

"For Heaven's sake, Calm down, the situation is /simple/." He gave a reassuring smile. "All you have to do is wake-up, that's all… just let go. The reason you never noticed this before was because you were wandering around /out there/… /nothing/ has any substance in the mists so you'd not notice if you were solid or not… here is different because it's /mine/." Ashley calmed, carefully considering the idea.

"…But…"

"Hush… just relax… Oh, and one more thing… " The mage was suddenly /very/ close, looking squarely into his eyes.

"/Wake Up! /"

And he did.

* * *

Sydney stood quietly, not wanting to fidget. Ashley had begun drawing in energy several minutes ago and showed no signs of stopping. He was obviously concentrating, but so far nothing had begun evolving out of the shadow-stuff. The area around them remained shrouded in mist, featureless and flat.

// What are you up to, old man? //

The Riskbreaker made a small grunt of effort. 

Gradually at first, so much so as to be barely noticed, changes began to occur. They increased in momentum, cascading upon one another and the mage found it hard to keep up with the ordered chaos that was Ashley's world being formed. The first thing that struck him was the /brightness/. It caused him to blink frantically as his mind responded instinctively to the sensation of blinding light. Old reflexes ingrained from years of stumbling out of caves and catacombs into bright sunlight remained unchanged, despite the logical part of his mind's loud reminders that it was unnecessary. When he cleared his eyes, he stared in amazement. Above him was a sunlight sky, the rich blue occasionally hidden by puffy white clouds. Some twenty feet away the bare ground was rippling and transforming, a colorful wave of reality sweeping out in a circle and racing towards the horizon. At the world's center stood an aching familiar setting, one that he had been to before on several occasions when he had touched the knight's memories, but this was only the second time he had /seen/ it. The plain was full of gentle rolling hills, the tall grasses moved in the wind, their sweet smell permeating everything. At the center stood the giant oak tree, as shady and lofty as ever, and in the distance Sydney could make out the beginnings of what would become a stream, more young trees clustering about the source of moisture. The only things missing from the well-remembered place was the picnic basket, and the bodies. Sydney shivered at the morbid thought, surprised that the knight would choose /this/ place to spend forever in.

//He must be more of a masochist than I gave him credit for… or more obsessed with their deaths than even I could have believed. //

Still, the sky was incredible, making him feel a little dizzy as he stared up at it, and the distant sound of birdsong and locusts was peaceful. The golden sunlight warmed him as it had once done as a child and he smiled. It was a beautiful day.

* * *

Ashley's world continued to develop, the small changes adding layers of clarity and definition but at length his strength waned and the work was complete. The knight was unsurprised at the sight that greeted him as he opened his eyes but checked the near by flora carefully. He was not so much checking its stability, he was confident the place was sound, rather he was confirming that it matched his intention. Everything was as he remembered it, and he was pleased at the level of accuracy that he had achieved in such a short time. Satisfied, he moved forward, absently catching the gaping mage's elbow and steering him toward the old oak. The shade was refreshingly cool after climbing the hill and Sydney allowed himself to be coaxed into sitting on a convenient root. The knight collapsed bonelessly against the trunk and flashed him a tired grin.

"What do you think?" Ashley brushed a tuft of grass playfully before pulling a piece free to make a grass-whistle. His clothing shifted from its customary leather and armor to the softer workman's shirt and loose pants that were associated with his more peaceful life. He blew into his hands and the blade of grass produced a silly sound.

The mage stared at him blankly. "Frankly? I'm not sure…. I don't know whether I should praise you, or question your sanity." Ashley raised an eloquent eyebrow in response. "For love of God, Ashley! Your family was /murdered/ here… or rather /somebody's/ family was slaughtered here… either way its very possibly the worst trauma of your entire life… and /this/ is your Paradise?!"

"Tia /was/ my wife. This /was/ my life." The knight's calm assertion allowed no contradiction and Sydney felt a little worried.

"And the other vision of your past? How do you explain that?" The mage knew he was prying, but couldn't help it. The knight's strangely jumbled memories had always been a source of contention between them.

"I can't explain them. But I think that they may also be real." The older man shredded the blade of grass, staining his fingers green.

"But…"

"Yes, there is no firm foundation. The holes in my mind are as real as ever… But I will /believe/ in my wife, Sydney. If I don't… then I won't know who I am…"

"And if it turns out that she never existed?" The mage watched his friend closely surprised that the conversation had lasted so long.

"Than I'll just have to learn to deal with it."

"You're a masochist."

Ashley sighed, "Perhaps, but I have happy memories of this place too. The only memories I have of my childhood were here, it was here that I courted Tia, so many things… before /that day/… none are very complete, but they /are/ there… images, words, feelings… they're a part of me." A small smile played across his lips as he stared off into the distance. "Almost every memory I have of my life before becoming a soldier…" He gestured at his simple clothing and idly tucked one of his braids behind an ear, undone and brushed back, the hair would undoubtedly resume it's usual fly-away look. "Every happy memory… some how ties to this place… " His expression held both challenge and questions as he met Sydney's eye.

"I don't know what to say, Ashley. Your memories always did baffle me, and I used to think that mind magic and memory charms were something of a specialty… But it does seem rather odd that this /place/ is the key…" Sydney fell silent, feeling that this wasn't the time for launching into a full fledged lecture about the branching nature of memories. For once the knight was being talkative about this prickly subject, and in a non-confrontational way. The blonde was determined to see how long it would last. He wracked his brain for a safe way of posing another question, hoping the soldier would continue to be willing. " I wonder… what of the other set of memories, the ones with Rosencrantz… do they also have a /geographic/ connection? Somewhere else?"

The knight nodded slowly, obviously thinking and for a moment the mage feared the conversation over. "Have you ever heard of the city of Alton, Sydney?"

// Now that's interesting, in one branching of his past he lives in some unnamed bucolic wonderland. In the other he's residing in one of the most ill-reputed and violent trade cities in the kingdom's eastern frontier… and the only time that the two memories have a parallel is in this place… in a moment of senseless murder… a family dead. Curious… and too convenient…How frustrating… and they're not even /my/ memories…//

"And those memories are also complete? In their way?" The mage kept his tone light, non-provoking.

"Yes, in their way…" Ashley frowned, noticing something for the first time. "Wait, I'm an idiot." Sydney restrained his response to the outburst and looked on curiously. "I'm missing a definite accounting of my life from childhood to 5 years ago, correct? That's roughly 25 years if we assume that I'm correct in thinking I'm roughly 30 now… Discounting some 14 years of childhood which I really don't care about that leaves 16 years of me /doing/ things that I can't remember… Is it just me or is that an unseemly /long/ time for the limited memories that I've recovered…" The mage found the logic sound and turned the puzzle over in his mind.

"I hadn't considered that… I always just assumed the timelines worked out… how long would you say soldier training of the likes you would've received would take? Assuming for the moment that you /were/ an assassin?"

The knight scratched his chin. " Even as a raw recruit? Less than 5 years really… then toss in another 5 for running missions and perfecting the special attacks to give me a solid career at it… 16 years is a fulsome lifetime for the likes of cutthroats… even the good ones."

Sydney nodded his head in agreement, "And if you /were/ a simple town guardsman, or even a farmer… you'd have likely married young, yes? 18 at the absolute latest… that's 4 years… and your son would've been born soon after." He shot the older man an arch grin. "Let's say he was born within 2 years, at the extreme… and he died when he was what, 5 or 6 years old? That makes it only 12 years at the longest, more likely closer to 8… still a short time… strange. Pity that you cannot remember any dates or missions before you entered Riskbreaker training… although I'm sure that was deliberately done."

Ashley was frowning again, desperately dredging his mind for anything, any clue to explain the disparity in time, but there was nothing but emptiness. Eventually the pain was such that he became acutely dizzy and he let go, resting his head on his knees. "This … this can't be simple denial… why can't I remember!" He felt a hand rub his shoulder in a soothing motion and turned his head to watch Sydney settle next to him.

"I fear that it is as I thought, as I told you in Léa Monde … Riskbreaker, someone has deliberately meddled with your thoughts, and it is likely that it was done more than once… Each successive attempt to adjust your memories piling up on top of the last like snowfall on a glacier… "

// And like those layers of snow, over time the spells compressed together and ossified… likely obliterating what was once meant merely to be blocked… but you don't need to learn that bitter possibility… not yet… something may yet be salvaged of this mess. //

Sydney was glad the knight was too mired in his thoughts to notice his momentary lapse. "It's impossible to say whether the initial "forgetting" was meant for their benefit or for yours…You could have gone your whole life never realizing what they had done, if not for me… if not for Léa Monde; and for that I'm sorry."

The man stirred himself and caught Sydney's eye. "Better to be a human, and suffer this pain, than to be /their/ mindless toy." He stretched out and allowed another small smile. "I don't blame you for that, you could hardly have known my mind would unravel so splendidly when you went to examine the weave."

Sydney laughed at the metaphor, "It is the nature of the Dark to /unravel/ things, to tear down walls and overrun creek-beds…being as saturated in it as you were from the moment you entered the city it is unsurprising that the wards they placed started crumbling. It may be possible, now that you are the Rood Bearer, to unlock other memories… it would require a fair amount of control and a delicate hand… but it might be possible… I would gladly help if you like…" Realizing what he was saying Sydney immediately stopped, mentally smacking himself.

// Oh you fool, after all you've done to toy with his mind in that bloody city… you go and suggest to him that he trust you to muck around in it some more… Trust from a man who dislikes even /talking/ mind-to-mind for fear that you might /do/ something… Not that he doesn't have every reason given our history… but I couldn't have killed this conversation better if I had suddenly kicked him…//

"Hmmm." The knight seemed to have not registered Sydney's overly forward suggestion; he was looking at the sky as it peaked through the leaves.

"Ashley?" The mages watched his companion carefully. There was no doubt the man was a strong as a titan when in battle; but that simply made the frailties in his mind all the more frightening.

// I cannot fathom why the VKP chose to simply suppress everything… given time to heal would he not have recovered? Maybe even to grow stronger? And why the need for multiple castings? Was the first blockage so weak? So imperfect? Or did it break? For whatever reason it was there and insufficient… but to put /another/ over top of it… that's simply criminal. Even amateurs know how risky that is… you have to remove the old walls /first/ then lay entirely new ones… if you don't the damage is irreparable! But they didn't care did they. They just wanted their soldier-boy ready to serve in the next mission… and in their haste they blocked /everything/, his previous lifetime, his training, his emotions…. They had to start from scratch, to retrain his mind to do the things his body remembered… and now that the walls, or what is left of them, are coming down… Ashley's left with a history like a broken mosaic… handfuls of moments and flashes but without any theme or pattern. And I think at some level he knows this already…even if he doesn't acknowledge it. How does he do it? Why isn't he insane? Living every day not knowing who I am… I couldn't do it… I would want to /kill/ whoever was responsible. //

Sydney's thoughts trailed off into malicious chaos, while the older man finished his meditations and looked over at him.

* * *

// If looks could kill… I'd be on /fire/ right now… but somehow I don't think he's looking /at/ me… more /through/ me, or perhaps more inward? Still he looks like he's liable to snap soon… best to distract him, before he rips out anymore of my new grass… // 

"Hey, go easy on the flowers, whelp." The blonde stared at him a moment longer, the expression in his eyes fading from ire to something vaguely guilty. His claws, having replaced his customary jacketed arms, ceased their mindless shredding of the near by turf.

"Oh!… umm… oh dear." Sydney glared at the metallic limbs and then at the rest of himself, noting his entire form had shifted to his more familiar black leather. His shape wavered a moment before reverting back to the plain silks and suede he was wearing earlier. "Sorry…" The mage tucked his hands under him, clearly mortified.

// So I'm not the only one who sometimes 'slips', that's the first time I've seen him do that unintentionally… //

"Happens often? Or only when you have murder on the mind…" 

The younger man had the grace to grin sheepishly. "Was it so obvious? Remind me to not play cards with you, you've learned to read me to well."

"You were hardly taking pains to conceal it, not to one who knows you as I do…"

Sydney's expression lost all mirth for a moment. "No, no you don't… not really… but mayhap you're learning…'tis no matter. Do you feel better? You were rather far away there for a moment."

"And you weren't? I'm fine whelp." The knight gently teased his companion, and felt the brief tenseness fade. "I'm just a little tired. Odd really, usually I'm never tired here…" He rubbed his face, eyes feeling gritty and heavy.

"You've never exerted yourself here before either." The mage's tone was pragmatic as he moved back to his earlier perch putting some distance between them before he did something impulsive. "Using the Dark requires effort, Riskbreaker, like flexing a muscle… a muscle that you have neglected to train as you have your others… you need to practice more…." Sydney grinned at the knight's disgruntled snort. "But if you're tired, you should sleep. Simply /being/ here will restore you, 'tis sure, but sleep will do it faster."

"What, sleep /here/? Isn't my body already asleep?"

"Yes, but your mind is not… and it is /that/ which is tired… besides, what do you think /I/ was doing for those long six months? Fishing?"

"I have no intention of sleeping for six months…" Ashley shot the blonde an alarmed look but the mage merely shrugged and stood up.

"Your body will wake you up when it's time, willing or no… As the Rood Inverse binds body to soul, so too does it bind soul to body, hence the regeneration, the agelessness, the strength, and in this case the never oversleeping… But I explained all this before… and you're tired. I will take my leave of you… sleep well Ashley." Sydney picked his way down the hill and back into the sun. The noonday light caught in his hair and it shined with an almost angelic intensity as he moved across the field.

// Sometimes it's almost impossible to believe that he was once and still generally /is/ one of the finest rogue mages and necromancers in the world. What an incongruity, a kind-hearted villain… a man who delights in prying into the affairs of others while always managing to keep himself cloaked in mystery… a devil with the tongue of a poet and the face of an innocent… //

"Sydney." The blonde stopped and turned, his face expressionless. "Thank you." The knight felt strangely calm, detached, for some reason it didn't bother him to express his gratitude.

The mage gave him a small, hesitant smile and a fraction of a bow before walking away. Ashley watched him move into the distance until his eyes drifted shut, slipping into sweet oblivion.

* * *

* * *

This is not where I intended to end the first chapter but /shrug/ I'm out of time so there : I have the next scene half done and will likely make this chapter /a little/ longer before starting the next... but not by much. So… There is no laptop over break, which means a lot of long hand writing... but I've stocked up on pens and pencils and have 2 notebooks so I should be ok. Wish me luck. For all of you who would be content to see Sydney go through life without ever wearing a shirt... shame on you :) The man's a sensualist to be sure but there are 1 or 2 practical bones in his body... bah I'm tired and likely rambling. Jaa I'll see you all again, I'm sure. L. 12-20-2000

Well gosh, it looks like I finally finished a chapter…. Sorry for everyone who was waiting… next chapter will likely get posted tomorrow depending how fast I type and whether I go watch Cowboy Beebop. OK, notes about the chapter… so we finally begin to learn the deal with Ashley… he's got a cart and a half of luggage it seems… but then so does our bishonen blonde… Sydney just deals with it better… Ashley actually /does/ have surprisingly good taste when it comes to house wares so ignore Sydney he was just being prissy : ) I have this chapter being another few pages in my notebook but I decided that I'd push them in ch 2 as this thing is already 30 pages according to Word. Good Night Everybody smooch Lunar. 1-5-2001


	2. part 2

****

Wandering in the Waking: part 2 

Here for today, but as for tomorrow?

* * *

"I barely knew him really, no one did, and yet every one who came in contact with him knew at once that they were in the presence of something... something special, and were some how uplifted by it."

-Heidi

* * *

notes: So this one's a challenge... //~ ... ~// is for when Sydney is "talking" to Ashley in the Waking world... I needed to differentiate it /somehow/ because Ashley is the only one who can hear the mage at present and having too many // ... // things floating around was giving me a headache.

* * *

"So... How was your day?" Sydney's voice would've been at home in a courtroom but his appearance would have raised eyebrows among legal crowds. His baggy cotton pants were rolled above the knee as he daintily picked his way through the stream; the only concession to a shirt was an oversized vest. The knight watched the younger man dubiously as he had since the blonde had arrived, waiting for the inevitable slip. Between the mage's often comical balancing maneuvers and his outfit, he bore a striking resemblance to a drunken sailor.

"Why do you always ask me that? And /what/ are you doing?" Ashley surrendered his relaxing seat to wade into the stream, and caught the blonde mid-tumble from a particularly wobbly rock. Dropping the petulant mage on the shore, he resumed his seat and worked his water-stiff boots off. Sydney watched, amused, as the knight pitched the offending articles carelessly over a shoulder and into the tall grass.

"I ask you because it's as good a way as any to start a conversation with you... besides, you never actually /answer/ it, so I'm hoping that mayhap familiarity with the question may trigger a more verbose response." The mage poked him soundly, emphasizing his point. "As for what I was doing, I /was/ having fun... It's not like I can come here when you're not around... and your water's warmer than mine... " Ashley snorted and watched the blonde flop backwards into the grass. "Riskbreaker, why don't you simply /dry/ the damn boots instead of flinging them hither-thither-and-yon? You'll never find them again..."

"What?" The soldier vainly fought to keep abreast of the man's verbal wandering. "I'll find the boots when I need to. And to answer /your/ earlier question, the /day/ was fine... as always."

" 'Fine' he says... Whatever, did you practice?"

"No. Hunted." The knight's voice was deadpanned, knowing the response would irritate his companion.

"Why?"

"I felt like it."

"But not like practicing."

"Not particularly, no."

"Your /hopeless/!" Sydney gave up the verbal sparring, rolling over to kick the man in the shin, and stubbing his toe. Still grumbling in pain, he stood up and dusted the loose grass off. "Well come on, if I can't make you /act/ the part of a proper Rood Bearer, at least I can make you /talk/ like one... conversation practice. My place. Now. From now on we converse in Kildean!"

Ashley followed morosely, the evening suddenly seeming to become longer at the prospect of conjugating the difficult phrases. "And how long will we attempt this exercise in futility?" He knew that the complaints were just a screen, the lessons had been remarkably pleasant once the mage had taken them over and his confidence was improving. They had covered more ground in a month than the goddess had managed in half a year.

// Of course it helps that he can explain things in ways I understand... even if he does think I'm an idiot because of it.//

The blonde stopped suddenly and tossed him a sinister smirk. "'How long?' Why.... Until you can do it /right/ of course."

* * *

// I feel like someone's been using my head for an anvil. //

Ashley rubbed his forehead and glanced forlornly out the window, the dark waters seeming strangely welcoming after the rigorous lesson. The blonde had drilled him for seemingly endless hours but at length had pronounced the knight's performance /adequate/ and allowed the conversation to lapse. Sydney used the quiet time to stare into the flames of the hearth, ignoring his customary cup of tea.

// And is it just me or is he /a lot/ more tightly strung lately... As he wouldn't hesitate to point out if the fault was mine... it must be something else... unfortunately that covers an infinite range of possibilities. Come on, you can puzzle this out... the whelp is difficult, but hardly impossible to predict... most likely it has something to do with Müllencamp, and what she told him last week...//

* * *

The goddess had put in a surprise appearance in the middle of one of Sydney's lessons, the chiming of her veils audible outside the window. Both men rose to greet her as she made her entrance and sat down.

"Greetings my children! How go your studies, Ashley? " She waved away the cup proffered by the mage and fashioned herself a large goblet of something undisputedly alcoholic. Touching goblet to teacups, she toasted the room and downed the drink in a gulp, drawing a laugh from the blonde. 

"You seem in quite a cheerful mood, been having a good time then while you've been away... 'Tis well. " Sydney and the woman exchanged arch smiles. She then leveled a look at his student, giving the knight a pointed stare.

"My studies continue, Great Lady. There is some small hope that I am improving." Ashley nodded politely to the goddess, who beamed in happy encouragement. She didn't seem to note the sharp glare he shot at the mage who had been kicking him under the table.

"I knew you could do it!" Müllencamp smiled at them in turn and resumed speaking to Sydney. "You always were so /dependable/... this makes me so happy... knowing things are well in hand..." She abruptly stood, as if recalling an appointment. "Well, troublesome one, if you'd walk with me for a moment, I would speak with you. Not you Ashley." She gestured for the knight to remain inside and Sydney offered a placating shrug before following the woman outside.

Through the window Ashley witnessed a rather animated conversation, which was soon over, the woman disappearing in a rainbow flash. The mage stalked back in to the kitchen moment's later, expression sour, but managed to deflect the knight's questions with ease and continued the lesson.

* * *

The silence was growing unnerving, and headache fading, the knight decided to take drastic steps. Sometimes a head-on approach was the best way to get a reaction from the man. "Sydney, what the Hell did that woman say to you the other day? I'm assuming it wasn't good..." Ashley successfully caught the blonde's eye and pinned him with a stare. The mage grimaced but remained silent.

// She said that she's fallen madly in love with some new jerk in another dimension, and has fundamentally left me /completely/ responsible for you... but I can't precisely /say/ that... you'll just look at me with that "She's completely daft" look... And for some reason it really bothers me that she doesn't seem to care that she has a new Rood Bearer, she prefers to just use me as the go between. It just feels wrong... Not that it's likely that Ashley cares /what/ she thinks of him or how much attention she pays him... but why is she so distant? //

Sydney chose his words carefully to bait the knight, keeping his tone light. "Nothing much, and /don't/ call her 'woman'... she /is/ my deity after all. She's /yours/ too, so show some respect."

"Unlikely, I think she'd appreciate that I'm honest more than any fake politeness." Ashley frowned seeing the blonde's attention fade, the younger man refusing to rise to the occasion and continue the playful argument.

// Haven't we already had this argument? Twice? /Repetition/, even our arguments have grown stale... barely a month passes and it's already bothering me, this place. There's nothing /new/ here...except what I create for myself... and lately there's been little inspiration. When I was alive I never noticed... I still spent most of my time in the Waking so this place was a novelty... but now 'tis like those old philosophers speculated... even Paradise can be a prison if you are forbidden to leave. //

"Hello, Sydney... anyone there? If it's not Her, than what the devil is eating at you so? Your constant moping is out of character... not to mention a trifle disturbing..."

"What do you know of /my/ character! You do not /rule/ me, Riskbreaker!" The mage's sudden and angry outburst caught both of them by surprise, Ashley blinking in amazement as the mood in the room flickered from cold rage and back to defeat all within a moment. Sydney covered his traitorous mouth with a hand, feeling the complete idiot. He mustered a wan smile for the dumbstruck man. "I'm sorry... that was uncalled for... I meant nothing."

The knight watched him a moment longer, obviously uncertain of what to say to defuse the situation. "Very well... 'Tis forgotten if you wish... I was only trying to get you to speak... I've shared more than my fair share of troubles with you lately... as a friend I had hoped that you would feel free to do the same..." 

"Friends... a curious thing is it not? For the likes of us? In the beginning you were trying to kill me."

"You were resisting arrest, what was I supposed to do?" Ashley caught his eye again and the mage found it impossible to look away. 

"Besides... you're trying to change the topic."

Sydney made another sour face and drank the rest of his tea. "Alright, you have a point... just don't laugh or I'll /kill/ you." The Riskbreaker merely rested his chin on his fist, calmly waiting. "'Tis a small thing really... silly even. I never before realized how... This place can be just so..." He smiled ruefully, not certain how to explain himself to the pragmatic man.

"You're /bored/."

Ashley's voice was emotionless, and as closely as Sydney looked, he could spy no trace of the smile he was sure the man was hiding. The mage's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I was going to say 'trapped', but yes, 'bored' works as well... There's just not bloody much to /do/ here... except educate you and run errands for Müllencamp. And /you/ don't really need me anymore, I've just about finished with everything you're interested in... and /she/ doesn't have anything for me to do because she keeps /wandering off/. I mean, you've /met/ the others here... you /know/ what they're like... Not precisely the kind of neighbors you visit often... I think I'm going stir crazy."

"You're bored...?" The knight repeated himself in a murmur, obviously still amused by his deduction despite his stern demeanor. "You mean to tell me that you've been in a /snit/ all week, because you have /writer's block/?! Do you have /any/ idea how worried I..." He cut himself off with a huff and leaned back, giving the mage an irate glare. "You could've /said/ something."

"I'd hardly call it 'writer's block'... I'm talking about raw forces of creation here, not just scribbling... /that's/ easy... I write all the time." Sydney matched the knight's look with one of his own. "Besides, it's bloody embarrassing to have to admit it. Who the Hell gets bored in Paradise?" 

"What kind of writing?" Ashley's question abruptly derailed the blonde's rant between one sentence and the next.

"What?"

"You write. I was curious as to the topic."

"Nothing you'd be interested in." The mage tidied the room with a wave of his hand and stood. "Come on then." 

The soldier allowed himself to be pushed towards the door, humoring the younger man's wild shifts in mood. "And where might we be going?"

"Your place. 'Tis more entertaining than being cooped up in here."

"Odd, you always complain that my place is too bright..."

"It /is/, but at least /that's/ novel."

* * *

// A question I haven't had to ask myself since... well ... not ever I suppose... Tia was easy to entertain... but what /does/ one do to amuse a person who is tired of being able to /do/ whatever he wants... even the question itself seems idiotic. //

"What precisely do you want to /do/? I'm assuming your mood stems from the fact that you are foiled in your aims somehow?" The knight had produced a small block of wood and a sharp knife, and proceeded to carve a rough shape. The mage was sprawled amidst the dappled shadows watching the leaves above them shift in the breeze.

"You assume correctly." He shifted his gaze to the older man's hands and watched as the curls of wood slowly formed and fell from the blade. "What do I want...? The /impossible/, of course." He smiled at the knight's grunt of amusement. "It seems today is my day to be truthful... /Truthfully/ then, I want out. I want to leave this place... just for a bit, a day, Hell... I'd settle for an hour..."

"So?"

The mage blinked at the man's blunt response, "Hello?! I'm /dead/ remember? The only ways that the dead can walk in the Waking is if they're /cursed/... or mentally unstable enough to /want/ to haunt someone or someplace. The only way I could leave the Shadow Lands now is if I sever my bonds with the Dark and die a 'complete death' or ..." Ashley watched, amused, as the blonde seemed to reach the same conclusion that he had arrived at moments before. Sydney's face went slowly blank as his mind furiously attacked the problem.

// For /once/ I figure something out before he does... but then I do these things all by /feel/ where as he, being more knowledgeable of the rules, would be less inclined to consider /all/ possibilities. Now all I have to do is wait and see if he can determine /how/ to do it... Resurrecting the dead... that's what being Rood Bearer is all about, isn't it? Just because I've never done it before doesn't mean I can't... but then Sydney isn't /precisely/ dead, is he... and I doubt that Müllencamp would be amused if I brought him back for real. //

Sydney's smile, as he sat up, was positively manic, a sharp, wild thing. "Say... Ashley... what are you doing tomorrow...? Nothing too /tiring/ I hope?" The knight set aside his hobby and gave the gleeful blonde an indulgent look.

// If he was scheming any harder he'd be rubbing his hands together like some sort of gnome who had just discovered treasure... and chortling... what a disturbing image.. ugh. //

"Not particularly, why?"

"Would you mind /terribly/ if I came for a visit?" If possible the mage's smile became wider. 

"Do I have to /do/ anything?"

Suddenly all business, Sydney tapped his chin in thought, "I think I can still draw power from /here/ when I'm there... But it will be your energy that will be needed to carve the path between here and there, and then you'll have to sort of 'hold the door open' for as long as I'm there... It could get to be burdensome... more of a slow continuous drain than casting a spell, but requiring far less energy." The mage noted the man's somewhat baffled look and tried a different tack. "You have to 'loan' me some energy... and 'allow' me to haunt you... But aside from that no, there's no chanting or drawing symbols or any of those 'magicky' things you loathe... Come on... it'll be an adventure... what do you say..." He assumed his most patently innocent face, the one he used to wheedle favors from Müllencamp, "...Please? ..."

// It would serve him right if I let him squirm... but there's not much point to it is there. //

Ashley shrugged his surrender, one of his rare smiles ghosting across his features. "You really shouldn't make faces like that, you know... it completely obliterates any hope you'll ever have of me visualizing you as a cold, menacing dark-mage." His laconic comment caused the mage to blink in surprise then stick out his tongue childishly. "You're only damning yourself further..." This time the knight couldn't suppress a chuckle.

"I'll show you /menacing/ in a second or two, if you don't agree to help me..." Sydney moved with lightning speed and prodded the older man's chest with a metallic claw threateningly.

"/Yes/ then, you demanding whelp... Anything to get you to stop sulking... just try to stay out from underfoot...Ok?" Ashley closed his eyes and settled back, feigning sleep.

// I have you now brat... maybe now you'll see that you can rely on me as much as I've been obliged to depend on you. Then we can be relaxed again... the way we were before... //

In a rare moment of harmony, they spent the rest of the timeless afternoon in companionable silence. The warm breeze and bird song flowed around them.

* * *

Sydney was a patient man. Really he considered it one of his finer attributes.

// Probably a predictable side-effect from all those years of studying... not to mention being more than a little precognitive... When you know /what/ is going to happen... the /when/ is sometimes less important... //

So he waited. Ashley's world had no more association with 'time' than did his own; the afternoon stretched on unwaveringly. Sydney dozed for a time, most of his mind idling while the analytical machinery churned through the potential difficulties of his plan. He kept one eye cracked however, always aware of the cloud-watching man at his side. It was a fairly short time later when the man faded out, his form wavering, then gone between one breath and the next.

// Finally. And now to see if my plans are for naught... but then there's never been a prison that could hold me... not when I was alive... and there's no reason for my luck to turn bad now... //

Sydney closed his eyes and concentrated, visualizing a thread running from himself and extending /upwards/ towards the Waking and reality. Its far end, attached to the Riskbreaker, was well out of sight. Gathering his strength, the mage began to climb, trusting his friend to maintain the connection.

// This ... this is going to take a while, I think. //

The Shadow Lands rapidly faded around him as he pulled himself upwards, less like climbing than like walking up a steep hill. He moved cautiously and kept a hand firmly in the 'rope', using it as a guide. The gray mists swirled angrily and twined about his straining limbs but he shrugged them off, continuing out of their reach. He had entered the Betweening, the twisting chaos that existed between worlds. The dark and dizzying sensations were unpleasant so he shut his eyes against their pull and concentrated harder at moving steadily hand over hand towards his goal. The rope came to a halt at a solid barrier, and Sydney opened his eyes to find himself completely in the dark save for the pale luminescence of the cord in his hands and the Rood Inverse etched into the air in front of him. He released his careful grip of the cord with one hand and touched the sigil carefully, feeling Ashley's life force flowing through it.

// Well... here goes nothing... I hope he hears me.//

// Ashley... Open the door? Please? //

There was no verbal response to the request, but the Rood flared brightly, seemingly responding to some predefined instruction. With a yelp the mage was rapidly drawn into a brightly shimmering portal and he fell into reality with a spiritual /thump/.

// That will definitely take some getting used to...//

Sydney went to rub his forehead, not yet willing to try his legs, but paused, noting his appearance altered. Inspecting himself carefully he found he was once more as he was in Léa Monde but otherwise things were as anticipated. If he looked carefully he could see the lines of power connecting him to the Shadow Lands trailing behind him, leading the way back home.

// Makes sense, the stress of the transfer /would/ trigger my shifting into a more 'powerful' form... and that one would most certainly have to be the one I possessed when I walked the city. //

He brushed some illusory dust from his pants and stood taking in his surroundings for the first time. Touching anything was a useless endeavor. His body possessed no physical mass and brushed easily through the nearby table, leaving no mark.

// A true ghost then... amusing. That does prove my assumption though, if the Dark is providing me most of the energy I need to be stable in this place the strain on the Riskbreaker ought to be minimal... Still, it's odd... He doesn't seem to be fully awake yet... Not that I can see much in this darkness... Where /am/ I?//

The mage turned slowly, investigating the area as well as he could in the limited light. The room was quite small, and dark, and /cluttered/. Every surface seemed to be covered in /things/. Furs hung heavily on the walls; the varied pelts surrounded him and were interrupted by a solitary tiny window of heavily bubbled glass. The little light that pushed through the window barely illuminated the rough table that dominated the room, shining over the bits of scrap and various weapons and tools that festooned its surface. Sydney idly glanced over what appeared to be a small notebook and smiled at the carefully copied Kildean characters.

// So he /is/ practicing... at least a little... there may be hope for him yet. //

Off to one side a large pile of furs stirred suddenly and emitted a rough groan, breaking the hushed mood and startling the mage badly. Backpedaling quickly, Sydney lost his balance and, unused to not being able to catch himself, fell /through/ the wall of the hut, flailing furiously. His vision went white as he landed with a bump, then sat up and blinked frantically to adjust his eyes to the light as he found himself in a snow-bank. Cursing luridly he collected himself and stomped back into the cabin.

// Maybe if we put a little /light/ on the subject. //

In no mood for further surprises, Sydney held out a hand and summoned a tiny ball of light, allowing it to drift upwards near the ceiling. Its cheerful glow fell on everything, revealing better the contents of the small space. Surely enough, buried deep with in a nest of blankets and cured pelts there was the definite form of a largish man, who shifted again with a muttered curse as the light grew brighter.

//~ Rise and /shine/ Riskbreaker... it is apparently a bright, /sunny/, winter day... wherever we are... ~// 

The blankets stirred again and a thick voice croaked a startled, "...Sydney? ..." The man rapidly pulled himself fully awake and sat up, kicking off the offending covers to reveal a rough shirt and carefully patched pants of nondescript color. "What are you /doing/ here?... wait... I mean /now/. What are you doing here /now/ ? Can't you give a man a little warning so he can tidy up a little? This place is a mess."

//~ I'd noticed. ~// The mage laughed merrily, teasing commentary at the tip of his tongue. He fixed his best superior /look/ on the man in front of him, opened his mouth, and /froze/. The moments ticked by as he stared but despite his attempts no words would come out, his shock was absolute.

// This... /Impossible/!... but the /voice/ is the same... and the attitude... but he's ... and the... /what/ is he /wearing/? // At length his mind was able to focus again and supplied him with a realization.

// ... well... now I know why he never talks about his day in any detail... where he is... what he's up to... I can guess... I /don't/ believe it. But I can guess. //

The two men continued to stare, one still too sleep-muddled to recognize the problem, the other too stunned to enunciate it clearly. Finally Sydney found his voice.

//~ Ashley?! ~//

The knight blushed, or would have if his cheeks had been visible under the thick dark beard. The fact that the small cabin was not the only thing that needed 'tidying' struck him with painful force. "I can explain." He tried to forestall the clearly faint cultist with an outstretched hand.

//~ Explain. /Explain/ ?! Ashley, what the /Hell/ have you done to yourself! You look like a savage! ~// The mage staggered backwards as the soldier gingerly stood, and overbalancing once more, resumed his previous position of stupidly admiring the inside of a snow drift.

* * *

// Usually when a man makes an effort to 'pretty' himself up... it's for a woman. //

Ashley kept his irony-laden thoughts to himself as he dragged the razor across his cheek, scraping off the last of his beard. The accomplishment of several months lay in a large pile on the tabletop. He was faintly grateful for the small mirror he had borrowed from Tam after their journey at mid-winter, although he had forgotten all about the original reason for borrowing it until now. The rest of his hair, with the exception of his customary 'tails' had been eliminated by the simple means of pulling it back into a mass and hacking it off. An additional rough trim of the remaining pieces had given him a fairly close approximation to his usual look. The remains of his beard would soon be joining the rest as they charred to cinder on the small fire outside under the watchful glare of the mage. Ashley carefully ignored the laughing maniac whom he had evicted from his perch on the table on the grounds that the mage was a distraction he didn't need when applying a sharp knife to his face.

The knight wiped off the last of the stubble with a sleeve and leaned back to glare at the mage through the doorway. "Sydney, if you won't be useful will you /please/ shut up?! "

The blonde continued chortling; now that the shock had worn off the younger man apparently found the whole situation vastly amusing. "You... you looked /ridiculous/!" Sydney crowed with new mirth and fell off his tree stump, metal arms hugging himself, trying to contain his gasping laughter.

" I /swear/ if you weren't already dead I'd... /ouch/!" Ashley daubed at the small cut on his chin and proceeded to mutter his threats more carefully as he patted his tender face. The cabin had been quickly and methodically straightened, every tool back in its place, but this didn't stop the ghost from grumpily 'tsk-ing' his living conditions. Sydney had remained vocal in his complaints until the knight had set about the tedious task of restoring his old appearance.

// He scolds worse than a harridan... //

//~ Hey! I heard that! ~// The blonde had pulled himself back upright and shot him a disgruntled look. Noticing the job was complete, the mage moved in for a closer inspection of his handiwork. //~ Well, you no longer look like the stuffed bear that father used to have in the hall... but your clothes are practically /rags/. You look positively destitute... my my... ~// Sydney left off his teasing and returned to the clearing in front of the hut, glancing curiously around.

Repressing a frustrated sigh, Ashley donned his coat and pack, checking his weapons on the way outside. He found the mage clearly waiting for him as he shut the door.

//~ So where /are/ we, Riskbreaker? I've never seen so much snow in my entire life... ~//

"Northeast. Borderlands." The knight pushed past the stunned man and started down a narrow trail. There were several miles of traps to check before nightfall.

// Tam will be expecting me in a few weeks so we can do the spring run... with luck I can pile him up with furs to distract him from my recent addled-ness... living this double life has not helped my attention span any these past weeks. I swear, last time he was dying to ask me if I had suffered a blow to the head, I was making so many mistakes. Not that the man hasn't always suspected that I'm a rooster short of a hen house...//

He continued down the snowy trail, feeling Sydney's amusement tickle the back of his mind as the blonde moseyed behind him, observing his chores. 

//~ So... /this/ is what you /do/ everyday? All day? Just /tramp/ around in the woods alone? Is this supposed to be some kind of /great penance/ for your many sins? ... Forsaking the world won't make you a better person, Ashley, it'll just make you a lonelier one... ~//

"Don't be absurd. I'm here because I like it... 'tis a quiet, peaceable sort of place." The knight found a trap that was full and methodically killed the rabbit, tucking it into the sack. He didn't bother to reset the lines. There'd be no time to get a second pass at them before heading into the lowlands. The mage's disbelieving stare spoke volumes as he picked his way over the snow, leaving no trail. "Besides, people give me headaches."

This elicited a grin from the younger man, //~ They wouldn't be as irritating if you had better social skills... ~//

"What, like you? All you ever did was /manipulate/ them into doing what you wanted them to..."

//~ Manipulation is a social skill... a /useful/ one too! ~// 

Sydney pouted a moment, then proceeded to wander off the trail, something having caught his eye. He had not moved further than fifty feet, however, when he found himself unable to proceed, at the end of some invisible leash. The blonde turned to complain but noticed the Riskbreaker was leaning heavily on a tree trunk, breath coming in short pants.

"Get /back/ here, whelp... /now/. I do not need a /migraine/ today..." The fierce pain and dizzying /draining/ sensation relented immediately as the mage closed the distance between them, and Ashley rubbed the last of the feeling away under the blonde's worried gaze. Waving off the blonde's apologetic smile, he moved once more along the track.

//~ Well now we know how far a distance I can go before you feel the strain... ~// Sydney's voice was optimistic as he gamely followed the knight-become-woodsman out of the trees and onto a high ridgeline. 

The ground dropped away with alarming abruptness as the trail ascended over the apex, and the clear day afforded the pair a rare view. Long accustomed to the natural splendors of his new home, Ashley paid it no mind, carefully placing his feet, but was quick to pause and turn at the blonde's awed gasp. The mage had ceased any attempt to progress after his companion, eyes wide as he took in the panorama before them.

"Yes, I suppose it is rather nice, the weather is seldom good enough this time of year to see quite this far..." The knight backtracked down beside the younger man and followed his gaze across the sweeping lowlands.

//~ "Rather nice"...? Ashley you can practically see the entire country from here... 'tis /amazing/... no... 'tis grander than that... this.. this is France?! ~//

The soldier chuckled wryly at the blonde's childlike wonder. "No, those are the Prussian nations... there are quite a few... fairly small kingdoms I've been told... I've only been to the one nearest to here... it is where we go to barter for supplies."

//~ I never made it this far... South? Yes. Spain was impressive... and the kingdom of Portugal... but never north... ~//

" Well, now you have... come along.. I'd rather not walk this route after dark..." Sydney nodded dazedly and quietly followed for the remainder of the day.

* * *

The snow was still hip-deep in the mountain passes, but the winds had abated somewhat, and in the protected valleys the first snow flowers were making an appearance. It was spring at last. Tam carefully checked the ties on the loaded sled, appreciating the warmer weather. He figured on being able to get maybe one or two additional trips down the mountain using the sled before the mid-summer heat made the mountain snow too unstable for the runners. Then it would be back to the backpacks once more.

// Not that the last trip was burdensome in the slightest...that hermit's stronger than an ox and twice as obliging... This trip ought to be a breeze provided he remembers to come... I think being so much alone has finally started to get to him... when we crossed paths last week I swear he was talking to himself before he noticed me...but I didn't have the heart to mention it to him. //

Tam rested against the side of the pile of pelts and made up a pipe. His worries for the hermit intermingled with a sense of unease about this trip. At mid-winter, his friends in town had been full of odd stories of goings-on in the lowlands, more religious nonsense with the strong preying on the weak. Such gossip was generally nothing to bother about, but apparently this time it had been a little to close to home for the folks in the village. A similar settlement not two days away had been torched to the ground, and in the middle of winter.

// Those bloody church idiots... they won't rest until you've either converted to their new fangled ideals or have been "cleansed" to an early grave... and just as soon as you've finished bowing and scraping to one pack to make them /go away/.... /another/ group comes along telling you to switch /back/... When will they realize that poor people like us really couldn't care less how we pray and where. They're lucky we remember to pray at all with all the work to be done around here... No day of rest for us... The minute you let your guard down here, the mountains will /get/ you. //

The trapper looked toward the house and smiled at the sight of his daughter playing happily in the snow. Although this was usually one of the safest runs of the year, he had decided to leave her behind. The fickleness of nature he could tolerate with ease, but the random violence that possibly awaited them once they came down out of the woods made him uneasy. Heidi was well and old enough to start learning the trials of the passes, but he was unwilling to dispel her innocence as to the cruelties of man quite yet.

// Let her think that the world is good and loving for another year, Lord; don't let her see the madness that those lowlanders get up to. 'Tis just too dangerous this time, especially if what the barkeep says was true... that those crusaders aren't just seeking converts but some escaped felon... From the sound of it, they'd been looking since early winter... and if they're the ones who burned that town, they'll stop at nothing till they find whoever it is they're looking for... Ah well, with any luck they gave up long ago and went /home/... //

As if thinking of the troubles abounding in the world had somehow summoned them up, the morning's peace was suddenly interrupted by a ragged shape stumbling out of the forest and tumbling down the gentle slope to the valley floor, towards the house. 

// That's not Ash. // Tam quickly put aside his initial guess as he watched the stranger flail through the crusty snow. //Not unless he's gone /completely/ of his rocker anyway... but no... this one doesn't have Ash's build, or his way of moving... 'tis someone else... and they're not in good shape... //

"Daddy?"

"Get inside sweetling, quick now. Tell you mother we have a tramp come to visit... he'll need something warm."

Heidi quickly darted towards the house while Tam proceeded more cautiously towards the staggering vagrant, weapon at hand. The mostly frozen man was in no condition to be a threat however, and seemed barely aware of the trapper's presence. His voice was cracked and raw as he chanted snatches of feverish babble. For a moment Tam's survival instincts warred with his humanitarian ones; the temptation to drag the man back into the trees and lose him was strong. 

// Damn my tender heart... this'll lead to naught but trouble, I feel it in my bones. //

Nevertheless, Tam abruptly sheathed his sword and bodily /lifted/ the quivering madman up and carried him into the house.

// Mary'll have a fit over this one... //

* * *

It took the three of them together to peel the man's frozen clothing off and tuck him into the warmed bed. Tam and his daughter watched carefully as Mary spooned the broth into him. The vagrant slept through the remaining hours of the day but shortly after dark, came awake with a shout.

"Please! I won't go back there! I won't... People in boxes make the fire grow brighter... no one gets out... But /I/ got out... and they're coming! The Lord sends his servant... the servant sends his jackals... horses bring fire... dead... dead... they're all dead... only me... a tiny flea... or a bee... in a tree... knee... free..." His senseless speech trailed off into a terrified giggling. The man's un-bandaged eye darted continuously about the room.

Mary touched his fevered brow and frowned in concern. "Mother have mercy, he's been too long in the cold, it's gone straight to his brain..."

However, the madman's rambling had made all together too much sense to Tam's paranoid reasoning.

// If only that were true... but it /does/ make a sick sort of sense... and he seemed lucid enough at the start... "people in boxes" ? Does he mean the dead? But the "They're coming." And the "Lord" and "jackals"; those words seem more than plain enough for me... sounds a mite too similar to those crusaders and their doings for my comfort... I hope to Hell you're not the /someone/ that they were looking for, my crazy little friend. //

"You! Hey! Don't go crazy on me just yet, I have a few questions!" The trapper moved to the babbling man's side and began to shake him briskly, ignoring his wife's protests. "Are you being followed? These 'Jackals', are they near? Tell me!" The wild-man ignored him, lost in some nightmare, wailing in fear. 

"Tam! You'll only make him worse, scaring him like that.../really/. He's obviously delusional... what is the matter with you?" Mary moved to comfort the frantic tramp while giving her husband a sharp look. Their daughter watched the scene solemnly from her small cot on the other side of the room.

"Fine. Keep him quiet... I'm going out." His wife blinked in surprise as he stalked out the door into the lengthening shadows.

* * *

// Gods preserve us, the madman left a trail that even a child could follow. There'll be no way of disguising this mess... Well, might as well follow it back a bit to see where he came from and what I can do to muck it up a bit. With luck Ash will arrive tomorrow and together we'll figure something out... //

The trail was fresh and wide; the trapper was easily able to follow it even at a loping pace. He traced the route for several minutes but neither saw nor heard any signs of interest in the trail from potential pursuers. Tam came to a halt as the trail crossed a half-frozen stream, the possibility for subterfuge materializing in the evening gloom.

// If I can make it look as though he sought to disguise his tracks by going down stream... maybe they'll lose the scent and get lost in the woods... That would buy some time... /Gods/ listen to yourself Tam, you're about to waste valuable hours disguising trails from phantom villains when you could be comfortably at home eating dinner... You're as bad as that lunatic is... or at least Ash is starting to rub off on you... //

Despite his own mental protests, Tam got quickly to work breaking the ice in the stream for several yards and then obliterating several hundred feet of trail. Removing signs of the stranger's passing was slow work but Tam felt safer as he made his way home by moonlight. His nerves were still jangling with the possible dangers the invalid in his bed represented. The hunter had a sick feeling that his life was about to suddenly grow considerably more difficult. He stared watchfully into the dark long after his family had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ashley tightened the final strap on his pack and slung it across his shoulders. He shot his lazing partner a curious look. "You coming?"

//~ Do I have a choice? ~// Sydney ceased humming his cheerful tune and joined the knight at the door. The blonde produced a long coat on a whim and adjusted his gloves. The cold had no effect on him but he felt the need to play the part, especially since he had mastered the art of altering his appearance outside the Shadow Lands.

The knight allowed a brief sigh, "Well, you /could/ always go home..." He checked his weapons once more and started down the trail. They set off into the woods down a new trail, their destination a modest valley some distance away.

//~ What? And miss the social gathering of the century for these parts? Be serious! ~// Ashley gave no reply and continued along the trail. Sydney smiled cheerfully at the man's back and began to sing the silliest song he could think of as the traveled.

//~ Oh the Daisy-Knight went out one day/ O'er the hill, a Dragon to slay/ But when it came out, he Ran Away!/ Oh that Daisy-Knight! ~//

The next verses proceeded to tell the tale of the knight's unenviable defeats at the hands of unlikely opponents and how his princess eventually ran off with the dragon, getting sillier with each verse. The blonde gleefully noted that the Riskbreaker was actually smiling after the second verse, despite the fact that the man was keeping his head down, generally 'ignoring' the ghost.

* * *

It was just another cold day that found Ashley out and cleaning the hides in preparation for their initial curing. The large copper pot was already hanging from its trestle over a small fire, the flames' weak heat intended merely to keep the watery mixture from freezing in the middle of the process. Ashley worked quietly as ever, methodically cleaning each pelt before dropping it in the pot. Occasionally he'd give the odorous mixture a stir and pull out a fur that was ready to be stretched on the drying frames. Sydney had observed the process with interest at first but, having committed its particulars to memory, he amused himself by wandering around the camp looking at things. The morning was so quiet in fact that Ashley nearly jumped when the mage randomly started to hum. The song was a curious, mournful thing, the sort of song that slipped down a person's spine causing a shiver. The knight casually glanced at his companion but Sydney didn't notice; his gaze was fixed on the clouded sky.

// I'd forgotten he could sing... What was it Merlose said? "He hums his prophecy as though it was a simple ballad"? Odd how, exhibitionist that he is, I've never heard him before... he's not bad... // 

The Riskbreaker continued to work quietly, attempting not to disturb the mage's reverie. He was certain that any distraction would break the younger man's mood and likely end the song. However the mage continued until the tune concluded, and when he had reached the end he surprisingly started over, his voice softly adding words to the haunting melody. The light tenor carried well in the still air, seeming real despite the knight's knowledge that the sound was only in his head. The words were Kildean and Ashley paused in his labor in order to better translate them.

//~ On a wagon, bound for market/ there's a calf with a mournful eye/ high above him there's a swallow/ winging swiftly through the sky/ oh how the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might. They laugh and laugh the whole day through and half the summer's night... ~//

The song continued its mournful lament, an improvised conversation between the imprisoned calf and the wild songbird, its slow melody encompassing the inevitability of the one animal's death and its dream of freedom. The knight found the simple farmer's song to be strangely appropriate for both the singer and the audience.

// So simple.. yet complex... like most things from that time... a tale of those trapped by rules and birth into the roles that life thrusts upon them... a yearning to be free of unpleasant responsibility while at the same time a gentle resignation to the impossibility of it... Much in the way Sydney was able to face his long-foreseen death with calm complacency... Will I do the same I wonder... half the time these days I can't be certain if I would relish the chance if offered, or rail against it with everything within me. Or maybe I too will be inured to it after I am told how it will be. Some how I'm glad I do not seem to have a gift for divining the future as he did... I doubt I'd be entertained by it. //

The song found its way to an ending and Sydney's awareness returned with a jolt, causing the man to guiltily look around. A pink blush rose in his cheeks as he met Ashley's serious eyes from across the clearing.

//~ Umm... Sorry? ... I didn't realize I was being so loud... ~//

"I didn't realize you could sing." 

The man's simple statement seemed to fluster the mage even more as Sydney fidgeted under the curious stare. //~ It wasn't my intention to interrupt your work... It won't happen again. ~//

"It was no bother... You can sing or not as you please... I... I liked it."

The mage arched a curious eyebrow at the admission and his face fell into a familiar smirk. //~ Did you now... Very well then, any /requests/ ? ~//

Ashley merely smiled and returned to his work. With the knight's back turned, Sydney didn't expect further response and was therefore surprised to hear the man murmur, "Something more cheerful perhaps... " The blonde laughed merrily before thinking for a moment and beginning to sing again.

* * *

They were making good time down the mountain when the mage's latest comedic tune was cut short with a pained gasp. Ashley turned rapidly to see the man clutching his head, eyes wide and unseeing. For an anxious moment neither man moved, but then Sydney staggered and shook his head as if to clear it. The knight's senses were on edge as he watched his friend recover, unable to offer any more meaningful assistance to the ghost.

"Sydney... what?" The mage held up a hand and seemed to listen carefully to the silence around them. The Riskbreaker also opened himself up gradually, attempting to detect whatever it was that had pained the blonde. The woods were strangely quiet and subdued but he could find nothing out of the ordinary. Sydney finally broke the silence, his voice revealing his confusion.

//~ That... that was odd... and shouldn't have been possible... ~// The prophet gave Ashley a concerned look. //~ Riskbreaker, is this friend of yours in some kind of trouble? ~//

"You had a /vision/ ? But isn't that ..."

//~ I know, I know... but I've had enough of them to recognize it when it happens... and I /definitely/ heard /something/...~// Sydney stared into the woods, perplexed. //~ There was a man, his wife and a daughter, all of them scared... and another man... I think he was mad, Ashley, his words made /no/ sense... They were being besieged by a group of others, horsemen, but something's odd about them... in any case they were making some rather unpleasant threats. ~// The mage rubbed his neck, trying to work a kink out. //~ I hate to say it old man, but I have the definite feeling that whatever's going to happen, this wasn't the far future I was experiencing... it's going to happen /soon/ or is happening /now/... I wish I'd been able to better make out what they were saying... ~//

"Figure it out while moving. I need to get down there." Ashley's face was tight with worry as he picked up the pace, soon loping down the hill at an impossible speed, ignoring the trail. "I need more information, Sydney!" He called to the flickering presence of the ghost as it darted along side him through the trees. "Who are these horsemen, what do they want, when will they arrive..."

The blonde sighed in exasperation and reflexively dodged another branch. //~ I'm /dead/, must I keep reminding you? I only have so much power here... the only reason I could hear anything at all was probably due to the fact that I'm linked to you through the Rood right now... ~//

The knight casually leaped down a steep rocky slope, landing with the grace of a mountain cat to continue his unbroken pace. The deep pockets of snow didn't noticeably decrease his speed and he was barely winded as he sprinted forward. "So? If your powers in this place are channeled through me... what's to keep me from giving you more of them? You need more strength? Take it. Take all of it, just leave me enough to get down there, and get me answers!"

//~ Are you /daft/? Listen to yourself! You've just given me the power to virtually kill you!... 'Take all of it' he says... /idiot/! Have I taught you nothing? ~//

"Stop psychoanalyzing me and get going!" The man plunged across a narrow ravine, rapidly descending into the woods near Tam's holding.

The ghost gingerly tested his link with the Rood Bearer and was almost disoriented by the incredible rushing, unfettered energies that the man had given him access to. The world snapped into clearer focus around him as the strength poured across the bond. Careful not to pull to much energy from the knight, Sydney wove a quick enchantment and /shifted/, jumping over the remaining territory lying between himself and the small homestead. The freedom to go where he pleased was exhilarating, but it was quickly shunted aside as he found himself experiencing déja vu. The scene below his perch on the rooftop was exactly as he had heard it mere minutes before, and he watched wide-eyed as the leader of the horsemen began to bark questions at the family.

// That must be Ashley's friend... He's a little roughed-up but still in good shape... certainly not a match for that many men on his own though... wait, that's a cassock... they're /priests/? Crusaders more likely... but for whom? Their insignia is none that I recognize... and their French is terrible... Prussians then...and they have Tam's woman as a hostage... Ashley's not going to like that... speaking of whom...//

// Sydney! Report?! //

//~ I'm gathering your information for you as we speak, do you want it or not? ~//

// .... //

//~ Thirteen brigands, mounted. They're using the woman as a hostage and are demanding the turn-over of a man named 'Stray'... whom I'm assuming is the demented fellow hiding under the sled with the girl... There is some definite weak mage talent present... one man, maybe two. ~// 

// Understood. I have the cabin in sight. //

Sydney could feel the knight's proximity and decided to see what could be done to further even the odds. Testing his new power, he moved amongst the unsuspecting crusaders, glad that only one of them showed signs of the necessary skill levels to notice his presence, and that one wasn't looking. He closely watched the rider who was holding the woman, and waited for his chance. Sure enough the man had to shift his grip slightly to get a better handle on his reins, and for a moment the knife blade was away from her throat. The mage made sure not to waste the opportunity and gave the horse a stinging swat across the rump with a sadistic laugh. The animal surged forward in panic and started to buck, unseating both its rider and the unwilling passenger in the ensuing fuss.

* * *

// These stupid peasants... they're hiding him... I just know it... //

Father Michael shifted his shield and glanced down at the man lying in the snow. Even a kick to the ribs hadn't quelled the irritating /insolence/ in the trapper's expression.

// Maybe listening to his little heathen woman begging will inspire him to talk... //

"Brother Jerome, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate the seriousness of our mission to these primitives?" His voice, like his armor, was polished and formal. The younger soldier to his left tightened his grip on their captive, knife pressing into her throat. The other Brothers turned in their saddles, grinning appreciatively. Everything was cut short however when Jerome's horse inexplicably exploded forward, rearing then lashing out with its hind legs. Jerome and the woman were thrown at the first drastic lurch. The peasant rolled quickly to her feet and scrambled away, daubing the scratch on her neck. The priest however found that his foot was caught in the animal's stirrup and was dragged along as it continued to buck and stumble into the rest of the group's mounts. The noise and confusion were intolerable and the Father swore a most unholy oath.

"Get that fool back in his saddle, and then /burn/ this hovel!" He shot a cold glare at the woman, who was now cowering near her husband. "Thus is the fate of all who defy /our/ Lord... kill them!" Several priests dismounted and moved towards the couple. Then, with a scream, all hell broke loose.

* * *

Brother Jerome had just staggered to his feet, wiping the blood from his face, when a crossbow bolt caught him in the stomach. Tam wasted no time taking advantage of the confusion. He sprang to action and tossed his wife away from the chaos.

"Get going woman! /Hide/!" The trapper ducked a wild swing and fluidly yanked a long dagger from his boot to jam it into the man's chest. The attacker went down with a satisfying gurgle.

"Run!" Mary sprinted towards the sled, intending to pull her child free and make for the trees. She stopped in horror as both the sled and house were suddenly wrapped in flames. 

* * *

Father Michael smiled grimly as his men moved in on the belligerent woodsman. They would pay for their stupidity, and with a chant he summoned the purifying flames of his Lord, setting their home alight. His attention was distracted however at Jerome's screams. In the distance beyond the writhing man, a dark shadow had detached itself from the tree line and was flowing towards them at speed.

// So... These little animals have a protector? How interesting... but he shall be cleansed as well... //

The smoke and flames spread quickly from the thatch and furs. Coughing and wet-eyed, Heidi pulled the invalid along with her as she abandoned her hiding place under the burning sled. The head priest gave a shout of victory as the pair was quickly surrounded. 

"Of course! We should have done that to begin with! What better than /smoke/ to drive a rat from his hole?" He raised his hand and began to chant once more, intent clear. A long quarrel sprouted suddenly from the crusader's thigh and he broke off the incantation, swearing in pain. Ashley tossed aside the now empty weapon and vaulted the fence, close enough now to close with the intruders hand-to-hand. His sword was drawn and smoothly severed the saddle-strap on the first horse he sprinted past, dropping the startled man with a cry. Another man went down rapidly as the running knight cast a knife with precision through the chain mail on his chest. Snow flew as he skidded to a stop, a ferocious barrier between the small girl and her would-be attackers. Tam began laughing in delight and fell upon the recently toppled junior priest who was still disentangling himself from his gear. There was no finesse to his style, just the simple goal to defend what was his. Mary recovered as well, claiming a fallen club and moving to assist her husband with the same brutal efficiency she showed in killing chickens.

The remaining soldiers milled for a moment, their leader still hunched over his bleeding leg. One soon gained authority though and began snapping sharp orders, attempting to regain control of the situation. Ashley grinned at the three younger men closing in on him; their superior smirks and sloppy attacks proved that they had no idea what they were doing. His blade was certainly no slower despite the months of peaceful living, and two of the prelates fell in a stroke so quick that they didn't move to block it. The edge of the knight's blade bit through the first man's neck before quickly sweeping down to open a massive wound in the other's gut. Tam and his wife stolidly held their own and worked together to pull the unsuspecting rear guards off of their horses and dispatch them in quick succession.

The Riskbreaker could feel his blood rushing as the energy of the battle awoke the Dark within him, and he moved to intercept his next target. However in the chaos of the yard he closed with the man only to be rammed and crushed against a wall by a frantic horse. He saw stars a moment as the animal surged off him and bolted away. Fighting to clear his vision while keeping track of the battle, he faintly heard the clicks as several crossbows were cocked and aimed.

//~ Ashley! /Move/! ~//

Still partially blinded, the knight rolled himself along the wall, dodging the first two bolts, and brought his sword up instinctively to block the third. He shook his head sharply to try to clear it, certain that there would be more coming, but he knew he wouldn't be fast enough. Braced for another series of shots, he paused, hearing several unhappy twangs and the archers' startled curses. Ashley grinned in amusement, realizing what must have happened, and changed course abruptly to dive into the midst of the group before they could react. In his head Sydney's laughter echoed wickedly, the mage having impolitely severed the strings on each of the bows right under the noses of the startled priests. The men were still dumbstruck as they were pulled from their mounts, going down with simple, brutal moves. Ashley drove the panicked mounts out before him and used them as cover to cross the now decimated yard. 

Father Michael gritted his teeth and pulled the barbed arrow from his leg. Around him the tide of the battle was definitely taking a turn for the worse, and this compounded with the distinctly /chill/ aura that had settled over the area upon the berserker's arrival quickly decided his next course of action. 

// The peasants, even the runaway... they're not worth this trouble. As much as I would like to crush them I doubt that their rabid friend would stand idly by... Yes, /that/ one... he's the devil in him... or something /otherworldly/ at least... he fights like he was born to it... //

The logical side of his mind suddenly provided him a way to salvage the potentially pathetic situation as he wrested his horse back under control.

// If I could somehow /capture/ him... He would make a fine prize... more than enough to recover the honor lost in failing the mission... And once they broke him, he would fight for /us/... but to do that I'd need more men... Not here, not now, this requires planning... and a trap needs must have bait... // The priest scanned the area for a moment before catching a glimpse of the child and madman scuttling across the field towards the sheltering trees. 

// Perfect. It seems this demon is somewhat attached to these people... let us see how loyal he can be... //

Michael wasted no time kicking his horse into action and jumped the remaining fence, racing across the field. He smiled grimly as he bent to sweep the girl over his saddle, casually riding down the initial reason for his hunt. The child's loud resistance was quelled with a sharp cuff and holding her unconscious form tightly, he plunged into the trees and out of the valley.

* * *

"/Tam/!" Mary's frantic cry echoed through the air and drew the attention of both woodsmen despite the continued clash of battle. Heidi's faint screams chilled her to the bone and the men followed her gaze to see the escaping horseman. Ashley dispatched the last of his opponents and swore an ugly oath; the priest was already moving amongst the trees. But before he could move to catch one of the loose horses wandering the yard he caught sight of Tam being dropped by a sharp blow to the head. The man was surrounded by the remains of the crusaders but made no sign of being able to rise and defend himself.

// /No/. // 

The Riskbreaker was standing over the comatose man in a flash, his blade at the ready, his face an impassive mask. The men remaining were by now well aware of the skill of their opponent, but they trusted in their superior number and rushed him in a mob.

// Five on one... child's play. // 

Ashley made no sound as he surged to meet them, plowing a shoulder into the one directly in his path and tossing the man into the churned snow. The knight then swung about sharply, using his greater strength to deal crushing unarmed blows to the remaining men until he could create enough distance to use his blade effectively. The priests' clumsiness was used to his advantage as he efficiently impaled one man by kicking him back onto his Brother's sword; the second priest fell with a crunch as Ashley's elbow collapsed his throat. The remaining three had no time to regroup as the Riskbreaker fell on them with the cool brutality that had proven him the best of his kind.

The last priest watched wide-eyed as he fell back, bleeding, his companions collapsing simultaneously around him. He met the knight's eyes with a shudder, seeing no trace of humanity in their dark depths.

"Please... please have mercy... ?" He dropped his blade in terror.

"Mercy?" The Riskbreaker's voice was flat and cold. "Mercy has never been my business." He stooped to claim the soldier's weapon, but his eyes never left the trembling man.

"Who /are/ you?!"

"No one of any consequence. " The blow was swift and sure, dropping the man in an instant.

Ashley let the weapon slip from his fingers and sank to his knees, gasping for air. The Dark energies rolled and sang through his body, gathering strength from the recent destruction and death. They were not content to be still and the knight growled softly as he resisted their impulses to /keep going/, to complete the destruction and slaughter /everything/. The Dark twisted petulantly as his iron control refused to relent, and at length he found his body relaxing as the energies settled. He breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of the blood rushing in his ears faded and then became aware of a new sound, a rhythmic metallic clacking that caused him to jerk his head up in a sense of déja vu. Sydney hovered in the air in front of him, slowly clapping his metallic hands while smiling darkly.

//~ So /this/ is a /Riskbreaker/. Most men complacently accept "knowledge" as "truth". They are sheep, ruled by fear. But /you/ are different. Always calm, detached. A smooth flow of thought into action... ~//

"Stop that."

The mage gave a bark of laughter, //~ My apologies ~// he clasped his hands behind his back looking not at all apologetic. //~ I forgot how much you detest being reminded of our shared past... I found the potential for parallelism irresistible... but come now, /admit/ it. You /enjoyed/ that... letting loose for a bit... the fight... the /kill/. Tell me you haven't /missed/ that. ~// 

"They were no challenge... it wasn't a real fight..." His bloodlust had faded, leaving only the salty taste of blood in his mouth and a sense of emptiness in his chest. Despite his best intention he had failed to protect his friend's family. Heidi's scream haunted him. Sydney watched the knight stagger to his feet, metal fingers tapping arms with an impatient clicking. The older man's eyes were filled with a tired acceptance as he met the mage's gaze again.

"One got away." The flat voice was faintly accusatory but the ghost was unsure precisely /who/ the Riskbreaker sought to blame.

//~ Yes... but don't look at me. As I recall, I was busy making sure this gentleman here didn't gut your friend's woman... ~// Sydney examined the dead man blandly. //~ Not to mention the energy I exerted on /your/ behalf this afternoon. An arrow to the head at that close a range is nothing to laugh about, even for the likes of you. Even if it hadn't killed you, it would've slowed you down and made you easy pickings. Given the choice of preserving your hide and playing hero to a stranger... that's not much of a choice, no matter how much I would wish it otherwise. ~//

"So you'd just as soon have let her die..." The knight's eyes narrowed in bitter accusation. The blonde met his glare with one of his own, his usually animated face as closed and hard as Ashley's.

//~ If you think that's true then /fine/. You're being stupid. Learn to value yourself more highly, if not from some natural sense of self-preservation then out of respect for the burden you carry! If you die without a named successor, a number of Very. Bad. Things. /will/ happen. Not the least of which being that this valley, /including/ your friends, would be at the epicenter of the largest cataclysm since /Pompeii/. ~//

The knight found he couldn't continue to meet the blonde's burning glare and looked away, feeling faintly guilty.

"Fine, fine... But can you find him?" He slowly moved across the yard, pausing to retrieve his weapons. "We should follow him immediately."

//~ /Should/. But probably won't. ~// Accepting the knight's change of topic as a silent declaration of truce, the mage let his anger slip away and pointed over to Tam's prone form with a jerk of his chin.

Mary was weeping softly as she desperately tried to staunch the flow of blood from the side of her husband's head. The knight swore softly, all hope of a rapid departure slipping away as he moved to join her. 

"Mary... let me handle this. Check for survivors, I still have some questions." She was staunchly unwilling to leave the trapper but Ashley gently touched her mind and encouraged her to feel a calm certainty. A little dazed, the woman dusted herself off and surrendered her husband with a confident nod before picking her way across the field to check on the prone tramp. The knight quickly stripped of his gloves and tilted Tam's head it inspect the damage. By luck the blow had been a glancing one and despite the amount of lost blood the man's skull seemed to be intact. The trapper proved it a moment later by opening his eyes and beginning to mutter faintly.

"... those fardling bastards... what gives them the right... my home gone... wife widowed..."

Ashley felt himself smiling at the man's disgruntled tone, "Hush you hard-headed ass, you'll be on your feet in a few breaths, save your curses."

//~ You're losing him. ~//

"I've got it... Syd do you think you could get the fire out?" 

The mage shot him an odd look but nodded sharply, //~ Sooner done than said. ~// The flames quickly began to recede under the blonde's watchful eye, eventually extinguishing altogether. The knight wasted no time observing his partner's work, carefully murmuring the words to a healing spell. His hand glowed with a cool light as it touched the wound and the tissue rapidly knitted. Ashley held onto the spell for a minute more, letting the energies restore the lost blood and repair the other various bruises and abrasions the man had suffered. He glanced up from his work to see Sydney observing him once more, the mostly intact house gently smoking behind them.

"Thanks." The Riskbreaker patted Tam's face gently to rouse him from his torpor. "Tam. Tam get up, your woman's worried about you." The hunter blinked, sense slowly returning, and stared up with an expression somewhere between fear and awe.

"You!"

"Me."

"Ash?!"

"You were expecting someone else?" Ashley felt distinctly uncomfortable with his friend's reaction.

// It was inevitable I suppose. Magic is bloody rare in these parts, and what little there is seems closely bound to the church... now he'll think I'm one of /them/... //

The grizzled man continued to stare wide-eyed. "You /shaved/!" The knight rocked back in shock at the unanticipated exclamation, and couldn't help a rueful grin.

// The weather was bad last week, he wouldn't have seen anything amiss with the way we were both hiding in our hoods. How absurd. //

"That should /really/ be the least of your worries..."

"My god! You're right! /Heidi!/" Tam surged to his feet and paused, taking in the massacre around him. Mary had been jogging back across the snow when she had seen the trapper stand up, and shouting in amazement she broke into a run. He happily caught his crowing wife in a fierce hug, both of them carefully checking the other for signs of damage. Ashley and Sydney exchanged eloquent shrugs as the two moved to give the couple some privacy. The knight hadn't gone far before Tam's voice hailed him back.

"Ash, I have to go after her... Gods only know what will happen... could you..."

The knight raised a doubtful eyebrow, "You want me to stay /here/? Don't be foolish. You should stay here, I'll go... Someone has to get this place back together again, and then there's Mary to consider... I'm the one to blame that the bastard got away... I'll get her back." The two men stared measuringly at one another for a moment before the Riskbreaker sought to distract him by aiming a question at his wife. "Who was that one?" He flicked a glance at the fallen man in the field. 

The couple followed his gaze to the corpse, and exchanged a look. Tam sighed in defeat, "He never gave a name, but the church-dogs called him 'Stray'... ain't much of a name if you ask me... the poor mad bastard found his way here yesterday morning. I truly can't say what they wanted him for... and he wasn't talking enough sense to explain himself... I was hoping you'd be able to make something of him, but dead is dead."

Sydney gave a superior snort and moved across the field to investigate the corpse. The knight followed after him, equally curious about the history of the dead man, but the trampled form offered no clues. 

//~ Got him. /Gods/ his mind is akin to a broken mirror. He'll not remain long... ~//

Ashley watched sternly as the mage knelt close to the body, carefully gripping the last of the spirit's weak presence to keep it from slipping away, and scanning the man's mind. "Just find out what you can." 

"Umm... Ash, who are you talking to? The man's dead." Tam had joined the inspection unnoticed and the knight winced realizing he had been overheard.

"... Sorry... I do that sometimes...talk to myself I mean." He winced again at how the admission would not reassure his friend in the slightest. "If we're going together, we should salvage what we can of this place and get Mary to shelter... these horses at least will fetch a good price... as will the weapons." Ashley deliberately ignored Sydney's sniggering laughter and moved to assist in the clean-up. In a matter of hours Tam and his wife had harnessed the last of the horses to a crude sled that the men had pulled together. The trapper led the horses as Mary rode on top of the pile of their carefully packed possessions, Ashley following behind to assist in pushing. 

* * *

"So, now that we have some uninterrupted time... What were you able to get from the fallen ones? I saw you checking out one or two of the church-men as well while we were packing..."

The blonde collapsed in his customary boneless style in the tall, shady grass and ignored the question for a moment, content to stretch sensuously. He eventually locked his hands behind his head and met the knight's bemused stare with an impudent wink.

"We wouldn't get interrupted if you'd just remember that /they/ can't see me, or hear me... I can hear you perfectly well even when you /don't/ move your lips."

"Whatever... Report."

"Touchy touchy..." The mage smirked again. "Our little lunatic was actually quite informative. He was from a place called Waadt in a kingdom called... forgive me, my Prussian is /very/ rusty... Eidgenossenschaft...? I think. What a name... /anyway/ it seems 'Stray" /is/ the man's name, the only one he remembered anyway... Oh yes. And he was /very/ cursed. Quite a professional one too." Sydney paused to hide a yawn with the back of his hand.

"Don't tell me you're tired." Ashley gently teased, shifting nearer and tousling the blonde's loose hair.

"Hey... Being a ghost is hard work! And then I had you bossing me around... 'Fetch this, Sydney', and 'Find that, Sydney', and 'Do this, Sydney'... I don't appreciate being treated like the hired help, you know... I have seniority!" The mage's voice was playfully aggrieved, softening his criticisms.

"I know... I overstepped myself today; forgive me?"

"Yes, just don't let it happen again." The younger man propped himself on his elbows and fixed his partner with a serious look. "You made some mistakes today... You really shouldn't depend on me being there to save your butt... I may not always be around... /I/ never had someone like me..." His voice trailed off into an amused grumble.

Ashley produced a genuine laugh and prodded the mage. "You'd have never tolerated it either..." Sydney thought about it for a moment and nodded, conceding the likely truth of the statement. The Riskbreaker laughed again and settled back in the grass. They lay a while in companionable silence, shoulders barely touching as they contemplated the clouds.

// I have to remember to ask the whelp how he gets his clouds so random... that's the fifth one in a row that resembles a dog... I think it's the same one... //

Ashley brought his mind back to the task at hand and glanced over at his friend, only to see the man's eyes were closed. "You still with me?" The blonde didn't open his eyes but made a vaguely affirmative noise. "Was there more? Aside from the fact the fellow was cursed? What about the various priests?"

"Oh... yes.. sorry." The blonde cracked an eye briefly but decided he preferred them closed. "Stray was good for little... but what remained of his memories of his home life were... /interesting/. It seems as though this new church sprung up somewhere nearby and is using his village as a launch point for their... let's call it 'missionary work' shall we? There seem to have been a lot of classic 'disappearances' soon after... anyone who made trouble. But there are also a decent amount of memories that I could make little of... everything more recent than 5 years ago looks to have been deliberately jumbled."

"The curse?"

"Yes, I think so. There's something about it... the /feel/ of it. I don't recognize the creator... but I have a feeling I should. It'll come to me in time. The one thing that caught my attention was also what Tam related to you... the words 'People in boxes' and the bit about the flames... I heard that very clearly... something else though... Stray was definite that these people were /alive/ when they were put in... Perhaps this church has taken a page from our friend the Cardinal back home... human sacrifice is disgusting, but it's a highly effective way of spreading terror."

"I think declaring war on a neighboring city is /a little/ different from casually tossing villagers into bonfires, Syd." The knight mildly argued. Sydney's response was surprisingly sharp as fixed the knight with a serious stare. 

"If you had spoken with the dead of Léa Monde as I have, you would realize that /that/ is precisely what that Cardinal /did/. That wasn't a war Ashley, it was a /massacre/... Their bodies were tossed to the dogs, their souls to the Dark... they never stood a chance." The younger man looked visibly ill at the memory. The Riskbreaker nodded in understanding, silently waiting for the man to regain control. 

Sydney sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. "'Tis no matter. As for your crusaders... I only found two who had remained behind long enough for me to interrogate them... the ones called Jerome and Maüler. After a little persuasion they were very talkative. The newly dead are always easy to bully, especially when they're zealots. Threaten to send them to Hell and they'll tell you whatever you want..."

"Could you really do that?"

"Don't be ridiculous. The dead always go to the same place, saint and sinner alike... From what I am told, once you are in the Dead Lands, /then/ you must choose where you go; Heaven, Hell or /whatever/ it is you believe in... They didn't know much really, they're new to the order but they were definitely sent to destroy Stray before he drew attention to their church's power play... They were also extraordinarily bigoted gentlemen; apparently this group sets the bar rather high when it comes to judging the purity of others. Something strange about them though... They said that their order was the only /real/ one because they had His Divine Mightiness' own word on the subject... the church is apparently led by 'The Voice of God'... whomever that is." 

"You're inclined to believe this prophet a false one then?" Ashley sat up in interest at the new news.

"Who can tell at this point... But I get the definite impression that they were convinced that this fellow was the real thing... I'm convinced that this church is about more than simple high handed religious ideals... something stinks about this... and call me a betting man, but whoever this man calling the shots is, he's /powerful/... and I'll wager that should we ever meet him I'll recognize his 'mark' in a hurry. My hunch is that he's the one responsible for scrambling Stray's mind with a slotted spoon."

"Your hunches are as likely sound... even if the imagery is a trifle nauseating." Sydney laughed in response and playfully rested his head on the taller man's shoulder. The older man suppressed a yawn of his own and gently shifted so they were propping each other up in earnest, resting his head on his knees.

The blonde cracked an eye to observe the relaxing man. " Don't tell me you're /tired/..." his voice was a clear parody of the knight's declaration earlier. "I was the one who was scouting ahead, creating diversions, quenching fires and scanning minds... all you did was grunt and swing a pointy stick about."

Ashley grunted in amusement. "Hey... it's hard working being the Rood Bearer..." His murmur gave no hint as to whether the man was consciously continuing the parody or not.

* * *

Ashley and Tam made up for the lost day with a vengeance, crossing the high passes back to the valley in record time to pick up the trail at the homestead. Their horses were refreshed from the night's rest and kept the quick pace. At Sydney's coaxing the knight carefully /influenced/ the simple creatures, giving them some of his own enhanced stamina. Tam was luckily preoccupied enough with following the trail to not pay much attention to how remarkable their progress was. The track dove unerringly down the mountains along an overgrown route, and they found themselves once more heading for the lowlands. Even at their enhanced pace it took them three days to make their way out of the highlands, and into the warm springtime weather. Never once did they catch sight of their quarry, despite the fact that they kept to the trail as closely as hounds. Even when Sydney shifted ahead as far as he was able, he could make out no sign of the man.

// Three days... No horse could have kept the pace that man must have been going at. // Ashley shared the thought with his phantom companion as they rested in a convenient grove. He had called a rest at midday, seeing that Tam was ready to drop. The man had been unnaturally silent during the trip as he fretted for his child. The knight kept watch, allowing his enhanced senses to probe the area for danger and finding none. Sydney's presence, previously distant as the man scouted, returned with a shimmer and the younger man's ghost was suddenly perched on a nearby branch.

//~ I Think I have an answer to /that/ particular puzzle... ~//

// Which? // The older man found his thoughts temporarily scattered by the blonde's arrival. // Oh, about his /speed/? // 

//~ Yes. I won't attempt to guess how he knew to do this, but his horse is a /revenant/. That's how he got his speed... This morning you found that clump of 'odd-feeling' tail hairs and it reminded me of something, so I went back and checked. That wide stream that we crossed early yesterday... it had the same odd feeling, but I didn't bother to look into it as we were in a hurry... ~//

// Understood, what about it? //

//~ Well, it seems that our little Father is no slouch at necromancy... He rode the animal to death getting to that point at speed... then used the water to disguise the bloodletting... It almost worked, too; I had to look quite hard... /Anyway/ the animal was bled, then resurrected... He probably used clay from the streambed for the heart... ~//

Ashley shrugged in ignorance of the meaning of the process. // So he made a kind of /undead/? //

//~ Hmm... closer to a /construct/ than a zombie... a soulless yet animate body... a little different, but as it is powered entirely by the enchantments, it can go for as long and as fast as the spell lasts... till the last Trump of Doom if that is his wish. ~//

The knight banged the back of his head against the tree trunk in frustration. // So you're saying that he likely took two days to get down the mountains, then did his thing.. and crossed all this territory in a matter of hours... Where the hell does a /priest/ get off raising the dead... //

Sydney swung his legs childishly and laughed. //~ I have /no/ idea... last I checked they weren't teaching stuff like that in your average seminary... maybe he did some independent study. Not like I'm one to point fingers and declare 'Thou Shall Not'... I've been known to pull a blessing or two out of my 'sleeve' on occasion... ~//

// You didn't have any sleeves when you were Rood Bearer... //

"Oye. Ash, I'm good now, let's move! We'll catch the bastard soon, I know it!" Tam was grimly stretching in preparation for another long push in the saddle.

// I don't think so, friend... but I'm not about to say so. //

Sydney was already on the move, /shifting/ in short jumps from treetop to treetop. 

//~ Let him hope, Ashley. It does him no harm... We /will/ find him eventually... when he /stops/. It's not like we're going to give up now, we've come too far. ~//

// Who said anything about giving up? I promised to return the girl and I will... 'tis the least I can do to repay the kindness Tam has shown me. //

//~ Good. Despite my callous reputation, I'm really not fond of people who abuse children... ~// The mage's look softened into a more teasing one as he let the riders catch up to him. //~ Just try not to make any more mistakes? ~//

* * *

It wasn't until the dawn of the fourth day that their destination became apparent. The gently forested hills had given way to a flat uninhabited plain, and resting a short distance from the last of the trees was a large stone monastery. Tam stared in disbelief.

"But I know of this place... these monks are as peaceful as they come! They make their living brewing beer for Christ's sake.... What do they know of /crusading/?"

"Maybe their order has had a change of heart." Ashley crouched low, examining the trail. "Or maybe they drank a bad batch of beer..." Tam snorted in disbelief, but the knight ignored him as Sydney appeared nearby and casually adjusted his jacket.

//~ Or maybe they aren't the monks that you think they are... ~// The mage smiled grimly at the knight's sharply curious look. //~ The walls and surroundings show signs of fairly recent damage.. maybe six months, maybe less. You'll see it as soon as you get a little closer. Call me a gambling man, but I doubt if any of Tam's Bashful Brewing Brothers are still in residence... the place reeks of death. ~//

// And inside? Did you find the girl? ~//

The blonde made a sour face as he walked alongside. //~ No. I couldn't get in. They have wards against 'intruders' all over the place... very new and very good ones too... I'm afraid I'll be rather useless until you can either breach or break them... the best I could manage as I am would be to set off a few alarms. ~//

Tam followed the knight's lead, walking his horse off the trail and into the woods near the building. His harsh whisper was laden with frustration. "Ash? What do we do /now/? I wasn't planning to have to lay siege to anyplace..."

"There may be a problem..." The Riskbreaker chose his words carefully so as to not reveal the true source of his information. "These crusaders are probably /not/ the same Brothers that you're familiar with... and they've proven to be mages as well..."

"And /I'm/ no mage..." Tam frowned in thought then grinned. "Although I've had my doubts about /you/ for a while... So, you seem to have an idea... What do you think, full frontal assault is out, right? People like you and me work better where there are shadows... too much light hampers my style." He scratched his chin to disguise his nervousness, oblivious to Ashley's amused look.

//~ 'People like us work better where there are shadows... too much light hampers our style'... Ashley, I do believe I'm definitely starting to like this man... ~// The mage's incredulous laughter was pleasant but distracting.

// Hush, whelp, let me think. //

The two men crept closer, using the trees for cover. The wards that had blocked the ghost buzzed in Ashley's mind like a nearby nest of hornets, and he moved cautiously, afraid of triggering an alert prematurely. The simple barriers could not stop a physical attack, but to his less ordinary senses they formed an opaque barrier effectively cloaking all within. There was no doubt that anything more invasive than a passive probing would result in the residents being immediately alerted.

// But it looks like this thing is really only meant to detect mages... and magical things... and as many things as Tam can be classified as... /magical/ is not one of them... //

A plan began to rapidly fall together as he inspected the area, counting the patrols and making note of tumbled walls and poorly repaired doors.

// They definitely rely too heavily on the wards to alert them to danger... this place isn't that much of a challenge. //

At length he was satisfied and pointed Tam over to an unguarded patch of wall. "How good do you feel your sneaking skills will be this evening?"

The trapper smiled as he ran his hands over the masonry and noted the way the crumbled mortar left perfect crevices for fingers and toes. "Just point the way Ash... just point the way."

The knight returned the smile and they retreated back into the woods to rest and wait for dark. 

* * *

Sunset gradually ended, sucking its bright colors from the sky while Ashley lazily kept watch. Tam was carefully sharpening his knives, waiting for full dark. The knight felt a familiar tickle at the back of his mind and turned his head a little to see the mage pop into existence behind him. The blonde was now wearing more somber colors than usual, and gave him a brisk nod before settling down.

// Have a good rest? //

//~ Adequate. You? This may prove a challenge for you... supporting /me/ and casting... even with the Rood Inverse providing me with most of what I need, there is still what I take from you as well... ~//

// I know... It isn't much of a burden, though... and your presence is usually worth it... With any luck I can get through this without any major casting... it's not my style. //

//~ We'll just keep our fingers crossed then shall we? ~//

The knight flashed his ghostly partner a menacing grin and proceeded down the trail, tapping Tam's shoulder as he passed.

"It is time." The three men took up their positions on the various sides of the keep and waited. Tam started the events rolling by beginning his climb of the rough wall, timing his scramble over the top to coincide with the guard's pause in checking the opposite corner. The alarms remained silent, much to Ashley's amusement, and the trapper's low whistle signaled that he was on the move inside the walls.

// And now to buy him some time by generally raising /Hell/... 'Frontal assault is out'? No, I don't think so... /Sydney/? //

//~ Ready and waiting. ~//

// Now. // 

//~ You're /crazy/. ~// Despite his sardonic commentary the ghost wasted no time in deliberately throwing himself against the barriers, feeling several alarms shriek in response to his presence. He moved back and hovered high in the air, vastly amused to watch the frantic soldiers flocking to his side of the walls searching for an invisible attacker. Ashley felt both the mage's amusement and the chiming alarms as he waited, giving the men plenty of time to flock into the courtyard and mill about in confusion. When satisfied with Sydney's view of the situation, he calmly stepped up to the thick wooden doors and placed a hand on them, uttering the final word to one of his more impressive cantrips. The spell was simple but ferociously powerful, a massive fireball burning through the wards, taking the heavy doors of their hinges only to turn them into fiery splintered shrapnel that exploded into the confined area. The flames swirled around the interior of the keep's walls, hot enough to crack glass, and eventually ran out--but not before blackening the walls and killing or maiming a large portion of the crusaders caught without shelter. The Riskbreaker was inside the walls before the rubble had fully settled, moving briskly among the bodies to kick open the entrance to the main building.

// Well, it looks as though Tam got in his tower entrance with no delays... Otherwise I'd be hearing him cursing me by now... You with me, whelp? //

The mage's outline wavered at the base of a nearby staircase, vicious smile already in place. 

//~ Indeed, you only just toasted a solid 14 of them in a single hit... you do have a knack for elemental magic... It /was/ a little excessive perhaps... but I rather liked it. ~//

The hall rapidly came alive, the priests seeming determined that they could defend themselves despite the poor accounting their Brothers had given outside. Ashley wasted no breath for warning or challenge, raising his blade to meet the onslaught. The first priest was dealt with by the simple expedient of catching the man's collar before he could raise his weapon, and hurling him bodily into a crowd of his comrades to knock several down in a tangled heap. Out of the corner of his eye, the knight caught sight of Tam darting across an upper walkway, as yet undiscovered.

// Let's do this. // The Riskbreaker's mental declaration was the man's only battle-cry as he dove into the fray, casually dodging blows while dealing death with every move. With in minutes the hall was still but for the groaning of those too injured to fight. Ashley prowled through the lower level's rooms like a wolf, carefully checking each room for signs of life or clues as to the inhabitants' purpose. The ghost joined him after a cursory inspection of the fallen men, shaking his head grimly at the lack of new information that they provided. 

//~ I don't like this Ashley. I can sense that there are others here, but they're hiding their location from me... ~//

At length the only room left to check was the monastery's chapel, and shrugging at the blasphemy Ashley casually kicked the doors open to pad silently into the room. Sydney swept the entire room swiftly for signs of life, and finding nothing in the eerie abandoned church opted to perch on the altar, looking over the sacred texts. Frustrated at the lack of opposition, the Riskbreaker stalked past the ornate candelabras at the front of the room and moved to investigate a closed door off the side; the chapel's vestry. He went to open the latched door, but the moment his hand brushed the wood he felt the trap activate. 

// Oh shit. //

There was no time to do anything as the door dissolved into a portal of light and swallowed him. Sydney found himself suddenly alone in the dark nave, the innocent door mocking his astounded stare as he absorbed what had just occurred.

// The door ? They /trapped/ the door? What in the Hell for? // 

The blonde was moving at once, inspecting the complex bindings in the wood. 

//~ Ashley? Ashley, can you hear me? ~//

The mage strained his senses, but the door remained a door; the knight was beyond his reach. 

// But I recognize this spell... they don't have us yet... //

Behind him, he felt the hiss of a spell being released and he could suddenly feel the presence of five men moving into the church, Father Michael's familiar aura among them.

"Will the seals hold?" The eldest man's numerous insignia and powerful aura proved him to be the ranking member of the group. His pale eyes missed nothing as they suspiciously swept the room. Sydney felt a distinct sense of danger from the man and instinctively crouched low behind the ornate altar, hiding.

"He's a strong one milord, 'tis sure... one only has to count the bodies to see that... but this is one bubble he'll not break. Any damage he tries to inflict will be dealt back upon him. The seals will hold for as long as the door does..." The subordinate's tone was pompous as he boasted of his achievement.

"He had a companion in here with him, did he not? What of that?"

Father Michael coughed guiltily and shuffled his feet. "We have not yet apprehended the second villain, your Grace... there are few men left for the search and there is the captive to be guarded and watchmen needed..."

Sydney smothered a chuckle behind his hand as he heard the older man snort in irritation.

"It is doubtful that anyone /else/ will be attacking us /tonight/, my son. Go pull the remaining men from their useless duties and put them to work. I want that little mouse found. As for you three, " He waved the remaining men forward. "Fetch that door down. Carefully, mind you! Not a scratch will be tolerated. The sooner we get underway the better... you've done well, Michael, the Lord will be pleased."

Sydney flattened himself further against the back of the altar, frantically building a plan of attack.

//Why can't things ever go /smoothly/? At least I don't have to worry about Tam... he seems to be in good shape... provided I can keep our dear /friends/ here from leaving the room to relate that order to the survivors... Ashley'll just /kill/ me if I put his friend in danger... Shit. Have to think fast... I'm not strong enough to take all of them if they can see me like I think they can... //

Inspiration struck with moments to spare; the ghost /reached/ for the power lines that fed to him through the Riskbreaker and /pulled/. 

// Here's hoping that the old man is sitting down... This sort of drain might very well knock the wind out of him... From the Icy Void I Summon thee, with the Dark I Infuse thee, by My Blood you are Bound and to My Words you must Heed, by the Bloody Glyph born of Torment. I Call you.... /Dullahan/! // 

The room was bathed in weird shivering light as a new portal opened on top of the altar. A cold wind suddenly swept the room, driving the priests backward in surprise. From the heart of the distortion stepped a dark, armored figure, gigantic sword held aloft in challenge as it dropped to the floor.

"I thought you said he was /contained/!" Father Michael hurriedly drew his weapon along with the other men and shot a bitter look at the now sweating sub-priest. The pale-eyed head priest's lips thinned as he studied the new development. 

Sydney crouched on the floor feeling momentarily nauseous because of the vast energies bleeding out of him. The chapel was sacred ground, and it was all he could do to summon up this one /weaker/ creature as a distraction for the men.

// Dullahan... keep them busy... let no man leave... //

Snarling softly at his weakness he /pulled/ again and quickly spun out some wards of his own, effectively creating a cloak of silence; there would be no outside distractions if he could help it. Sydney grinned against the pain and staggered to the bespelled door, sending yet more energy flowing through his right arm to give the now-metal limb greater substance. His claws bit deeply into the wood with a satisfying /thunk/ and the mage methodically began to make long raking gouges through the carefully painted symbols. Focused as he was on watching the wards weaken, he didn't see the attack coming until the icy blast caught him full in the back, nailing him to the wall.

// They /can/ see me! ... I knew it... damn stupid of me, but there wasn't much choice... // He pulled himself out of the way of a second blast, this time fire, and forced his uncooperative eyes to work. The remaining symbols on the door were slowly charring as the wards began to collapse; there was no fear that the Riskbreaker would not soon be free. It was merely a matter of time. On the other side of the room the Dullahan was putting up an impressive fight and had apparently dispatched the one boastful mage-priest. It was damaged though, and even as it cast a charm locking one lay-priest's joints, another was moving in for the kill. The remaining mages were keeping back from the action, and Sydney met the senior prelate's eyes. Pale blue met gray in a mix of curiosity and ire as they inspected one another closely for the first time.

"How amusing... I've never heard of a mage using a /ghost/ as a familiar before... Although I can hardly support such unholy ideas... tell me, little one, who are you? How is it that you can walk here on holy ground?" Father Michael brought his staff up to cast again but was prevented by an arm barring his path. "Let the child speak."

The ghost narrowed his eyes in contempt, his opponent's speech irritating him on several levels. His grip in reality was slipping however, and he carefully watched the nearby door as it continued to smoke.

// How I loathe arrogant bastards like you... Just you wait till your precious trap breaks a bit more... I'll laugh as you /die/. //

//~ You can see me then... but can you hear me? I defy your /holy ground/. It is nothing to me. ~//

The man threw back his head and barked in laughter, "What a sharp tongue our little guest has... you will /stay/, won't you? I'm sure your /master/ will be pleased to see that we have you safe and sound... you look... a little /tired/!" The man pointed with his scepter and released a complicated charm. Sydney brushed it aside with a wave, bluffing far more strength then he had remaining.

//~ You'll have to do better than that... I am no man's slave, not /his/, not /yours/... ~//

"Then you can go back to /Hell/!" The prelate's angry cry was given counterpoint by the sound of the door exploding outwards, its prisoner rolling free with a shout. However, both Father Michael and his superior had already released their spells, one speeding quickly across the room to slam into the blonde once more. The ghost muttered a desperate curse but found he could not focus enough to retain his grip on reality. He let go and felt the elastic snap of his line pulling him back to the Shadow Lands. He closed his eyes in exhaustion, not caring much where he would land.

* * *

Ashley closed his eyes against the vertigo as he was /pulled/ through the door. The sensation abated at last and he was obliged to stare in wonder at the new surroundings. The trap was admirable in intent if not in application. The prison was a perfect sphere some 7 feet in diameter; if he stood at it's lowest point there was no need to stoop, but the view was disturbing. The interior surface was a smooth, flawless mirror; no matter where he looked, a distorted reflection stared back at him.

// Right then, magic is a no-go. I'll wager a bottle of the finest Valens wine that this mirroring is not just for aesthetics... and I have no urge to scorch something in order to test it... so that leaves brute force... how convenient. //

The knight tapped the cold surface with a knuckle, then struck it harder, but the surface remained unyielding. Its glass-like feel did not translate into any similar weakness. On a whim Ashley drew his sword and attempted to score the glass, to no effect.

// Well, if a blade that specializes in killing mere beasts and men is no good to me... what about a blade that has more of a taste for holy victims? //

Ashley exchanged his weapon for one of a pair of thinner blades that he had retrieved before setting out on his quest. The sword, carefully strapped with its twin out of the way across his shoulders and under the coat, slid free with a chime and emitted a dark glow.

// It's been a while, old friend. Let's see what /you/ can make of this. //

The blade struck the mirror with a musical chime, and /stuck/. The knight winced in pain as the sword's dark nature attempted to cleave through the wall and produced a shrieking vibration that filled the sphere. He pulled the weapon free with a cry and leaned against the far wall to get his bearings. The cell remained unscathed and Ashley grudgingly surrendered to the knowledge that there would be no escape without help. He folded himself calmly on the floor, the soundless space giving a feeling of timelessness, and settled himself to wait. His captors would eventually make a mistake, and when they did, he'd be ready. 

It did not take long. Ashley had barely progressed through the first lines of 'The Handbook of Advanced Law and National Treaties Pertaining to the Safety of the Government of Valendia' (1) before he felt the Dark within him give a lurching tug. A wave of dizziness washed over him, leaving him gasping for air, and he looked about vainly attempting to determine what his partner was up to. A set of four scratches suddenly flared into existence on the wall across from him. They were soon followed by four more cuts, and four more after that. The scratches crossed one another in a reckless pattern, causing the rest of the sphere's surface to shiver with each marring. Ashley was on his feet in an instant, throwing himself against the damaged section, feeling it give under his weight. Using the dark blade as a chisel he alternated between hacking at the dulled region and ramming it with his shoulder. The sphere began to splinter and as the knight smashed into the wall one last time he felt himself ejected back into reality at high speed.

He felt the splinters of wood fling around him as he rolled down the altar's steps and into the dusty chapel, but he ignored them and quickly assumed his stance. He was just in time to block an attack, the raw energy surging to the left and right as he cleaved it with his sword. Through the crazed brightness he could make out what looked like one of the armored knights from Léa Monde giving its death scream and dissolving back into the Dark from whence it came. Casting a quick look behind him, he was in time to see Sydney scream in anger and pain as the smaller man's ghost was caught in a hot blast. The ghost's form wavered a moment like the heated air over sun-baked roads, and then vanished. The Riskbreaker carefully assured that the wounded man returned back to his sanctuary safely while parrying another magical blast, sending it back at its caster. 

// How /dare/ they! ... /No one/ hurts him.../ever/. I will not allow it. //

Had he listened to himself, Ashley might have been startled at the fierce protective possessiveness in his thoughts, but the man only cared for one thing: eliminating those who sought to harm his friends. His rage was quickly channeled into destruction as he unleashed raw bolts of lightning throughout the room, blasting the younger soldiers. Only the two mages, having shielded, were left standing before him. Recognizing Father Michael as Sydney's attacker, the Riskbreaker closed in on his target, who stubbornly raised his staff in challenge.

"You /are/ a veritable /demon/ aren't you... /and/ you consort with the /dead/ too... Hell is too good for you." The man's voice was cool but wavering; he glanced over at his superior, who gave him a permissive nod and carefully retreated a short distance. The priest was good, better than any Ashley had yet faced. The attacks began without further preamble or boasting. The Riskbreaker smoothly ducked the initial head-blow and responded by slamming the hilt of his sword into the man's ribs.

"You're not entirely inexperienced with 'consorting' yourself it seems... odd for a churchman, don't you think?" 

The blonde's only response was a short bark of laughter. They exchanged a furious series of blows, forsaking magic altogether, and drew forth a number of small injuries on one another. The elder prelate watched in interest for a time, but it became quickly apparent that his servant lacked the stamina to compete with the fighter for long. Michael was simply not good enough to offer a /serious/ challenge. In a matter of moments the Father was disarmed and thrown to the floor, cowering as his attacker stalked forward. Seeing his opportunity, the arch-prelate teleported silently, vanishing into the night and leaving his men to fend for themselves.

"Now. /Who/ do you serve."

The prone man sneered in contempt and attempted to move, receiving a sharp jab for his troubles. 

"Name! Who sent you!"

"No." The man's haughty voice quavered as the sword's edge pressed against his throat.

"/Name/!"

"You'll /burn/ in Hell for this!" 

Ashley blinked in surprise at the icy curse before snorting in contempt. "No, no I won't." He shifted his grip and crouched near Father Michael's head. "Tell me what I want to know, or I'll be forced to /take/ it from you... a painful process, I can assure you."

The churchman's sneer remained in place. "You cannot! I am protected by the Lord!" 

Sighing in frustration, Ashley glowered at the condemned man and deliberately entered his mind. Michael had told the truth, there /was/ a barrier over his thoughts. Had the knight's skill sprung from strictly ordinary sources he might have even found it impassable, but the Dark guided him, showing him the weaknesses in the shield. The priest shivered, feeling a chilling tingle in his blood, but found himself powerless to resist.

The Riskbreaker resisted the urge to laugh as all the man's petty secrets were revealed at his whim but then he drew back a little, sickened at his actions.

// How would the whelp say it? 'mind like an open book'? This power is far to easy to abuse, methinks, but it seems it is necessary... //

He carefully prowled the man's thoughts, touching each memory in the search for clues concerning the new holy order. 

// Strange how /paranoid/ this church must be... Father Michael is no raw recruit and yet even /he/ doesn't know much... But he does confirm that they were hunting Stray to keep the man from attracting attention... they knew that even mad as he was he could let /something/ slip... something that would attract unwanted attention... which of course he did... //

Ashley looked further, callously indifferent to the man's fearful whimpering. Gathering information about the size, strength and recent movements of the religious sect, the knight came across another curious glassy barrier. Prepared for a quick retreat, he sent a tendril of thought to touch the blockage, and gasped as a /vision/ bloomed in his mind, causing him to drop the mental link to his now writhing captive.

* * *

The world shifted crazily around the knight until he found himself standing on a hillside above a ransacked and burning village. The thick sooty smoke billowed into the sky in a way that reminded him of Léa Monde. The village did not stay long however; thinking of the accursed city seemed to call it forward, and as he watched the small settlement morphed and expanded. Confused, Ashley watched his environment change and become the recognizable architecture of Léa Monde's inner city. There was a sound like a cough behind him and he spun, reaching for weapons that were no longer present. The sight that greeted him made him cry out softly in shock. Before him was Sydney, nailed to an ornately carved Rood. The mage's blood flowed freely from numerous wounds but his eyes were clear as he gazed down. Ashley strained to hear the blonde's words, but the flames around them roared higher, obliterating all other sounds. He blinked to clear his eyes of the ash. Reality shifted again. The Riskbreaker found himself projected forward at high speed over the city, only to come to rest in the great chapel on the top floor of Léa Monde's grand Basilica. Around him the candles burned in their sconces on the floor just as he remembered, and seeking to complete the scene he grimly turned to see his friend as the man had been that day, slowly bleeding on the floor where Guildenstern had flayed the skin from his back. He moved to lift Sydney off his wounds, supporting the mage in his arms. The prophet weakly pointed upwards, as he had on that day, but the words were not as the knight remembered. No longer was there the brief apologetic conversation; the man whispered a riddle instead. 

"The Imperfect light of Law Enslaves, Saviors and Villains have many Faces, to Do Nothing is still to Act and every action requires a Risk... But Ashley... no strength comes without Cost."

"What? What does that /mean/ !?" Ashley gently shook the now-comatose man and started in alarm as the body changed, becoming the laughing form of Müllencamp.

"Silly child... he couldn't answer... He wasn't /really/ here after all... You're simply seeing echoes of the /future/... Which your brain attempts to interpret by putting it in terms of your past... a /code/ if you will..."

"So you're not really here either?" The knight stared, perplexed at the smiling woman in his lap. She laughed again and reached to detach one of the jingling coins from a veil in her hair.

"Of course /I'm/ real... /I'm/ always real... but don't ask me to figure all this out... you're the one dreaming it up, I'm just here for moral support. All I can do is give you a hint or two to help you /see/." She flipped the coin and caught it expertly before pressing it into his hand. 

He cautiously opened his fingers to inspect the coin. It was larger than it had looked earlier, vaguely Roman in appearance with an image of the two-headed god Janus on one side and a set of scales on the other. The silver was of good quality but the coin had no markings on it to hint at its origin or value. Müllencamp peered into his hand, equally curious as to the form her gift had taken.

" Hmmm... a /curious/ coin for you... You seem to be at a crossroads my /darling/..." She pointed to the dual faces of the Roman god, "You're going to find yourself having to choose between two paths..." The goddess then flipped the coin over and prodded the balanced scales on the back. "And it looks that, whichever path you choose, there will be an equal measure of joy and regret... 'Tis just a matter of /which/ regrets you get...what the consequences for your actions or /inactions/ will be. Life is a /bitch/ sometimes isn't it...."

Ashley looked up from the shiny coin to snap at her, but found her gone, her weight suddenly absent from his lap. The knight was completely alone in the shadowy chapel and felt a strong need to climb the stairs and out onto the roof, completing the events that had occurred in the final hours of Léa Monde. It was with some trepidation that he ascended, prepared for /anything/ in this altered reality.

// What next? A heart-to-heart with Guildenstern? That I could do without... //

However, the rooftop was empty of mad men, or anyone else for that matter. The winds swept around him, tugging at his hair as he surveyed the city. Something was out of place, but it took him a moment to realize what it was. At the apex of the roof's gentle dome had stood a stylized cupola, a sword fashioned in the shape of the Rood pointing up at the heavens. He stared at the ornament that now stood in its place, a tall marble angel with wings folded. Its eyes were shut, giving its face a serenely peaceful look, but something in its posture disturbed the Riskbreaker. Curious, he moved closer to the statue, and ran a finger over the cool stone. The statue's eyes came open, startlingly human. The surprise was enough that it threw Ashley badly, causing him to stumble back in shock. The angel shook itself and became more lifelike as it stepped of its pedestal to gaze haughtily at him.

"And /who/ are you? How dare you /touch/ me with your filthy hands..." The creature's movements were graceful as it fanned its wings and drew a long silvery sword with obvious intent. The knight rolled out of the way of the descending stroke, leaving it to bite deeply into the tiled roof. He came to his feet armed and ready, the blade's edge illuminated by dark fire. 

// I killed Guildenstern and he had the full power of the Wellspring behind him... I can damn well kill this thing too... //

But the angel's blows were impossibly fast and powerful, driving him slowly backwards along the curve of the roof. Desperately blocking yet another hit, the Riskbreaker slid backwards again, only to discover that there was no longer tile under his feet. The angel seemed as surprised as he was, as it watched him waver and fall off the high tower. Below him the city blurred and vanished, replaced by a vast and inky lake. The dark water filled his vision as he plummeted and he plunged into it with terrific force; and the world went dark.

* * *

Ashley gasped as he returned to himself, realizing that he was panting in fear as he lay on the floor of the dusty chapel.

// That was... that was /bad/. // He tasted blood in his mouth and realized that he had somehow bit his cheek. The churchman lay still on the floor, blood drying on his face, seemingly having hemorrhaged to death.

// That wasn't me... /somebody/ /really/ didn't want him getting chatty about whatever was behind that barrier... but by the Lady, how long was I out? And where did the /other one/ go... there were two of them... weren't there? //

His memories were still swimming with the images from his dream, refusing to provide clear resolution to the questions. Ashley pulled himself to his feet and, using the blade as a prop, staggered out into the monastery's main hall.

// I feel bloody awful, like that time I tried to out drink ... /someone/... Aw Hell. Fucking memories... //

"Tam!" The knight rested at the bottom of the steps, tired, sick, and uncaring who was left to hear him. "Tam, you sorry excuse for a neighbor! You'd better not be dead up there... your wife'll just kill me..." He sighed and slowly started pulling himself up the stairs, calmly kicking a body out of the way. He had not progressed more than halfway up before there was a rushed clattering and the trapper came into view. The man was all but jumping down the stairs in elation, his daughter safely in his arms. He pulled up short of bowling the knight over and began to scold him gleefully.

"You! What /happened/? One minute you're right behind me... the next thing I know I'm running amok alone up there. Luckily these boys were /pushovers/..." He rambled on as he made his way downstairs, not noticing his audience's lack of response. Heidi stared sadly at the carnage and then up at the hesitating man while her father quickly surveyed the destruction. Tam shrugged in resignation.

"So, where's everyone else?"

"Dead. I think." Ashley made his way down and drew Tam's attention to the wide-eyed child. "Perhaps we should go someplace a little less... /cluttered/." Tired as he was, he felt faintly ill at exposing the girl to the carnage. The trapper nodded thoughtfully and began to murmur to his daughter, following his tired friend toward the back of the building and the empty kitchen.

* * *

The Riskbreaker gave a long sigh of relief as he felt the warm sunlight on his face. All he wanted to do was collapse into the green grass and /sleep/, but he knew that would be impossible without checking on his partner. The fact that Sydney wasn't waiting for him, as the blonde had in the past few days, didn't worry him much as he set out across the field. 

// If he is half as tired as I feel, he's resting at his place... convenient how we're 'just next door' to each other... but then /everything/ is 'just next door' in this place... just start walking and there you are... //

The breeze became cooler, salty as his grassy hills faded into the beginning of the dusky forest. He walked resolutely through the still-contradictory border region, blinking his eyes as it suddenly went from day to moonlit night. Sydney had plans to integrate the edge more smoothly at some point, but the idea had been put aside in the recent fuss. Ashley pondered the problem idly as he walked and was soon at the base of the mage's tower, the surf behind him crashing impressively against the shore. He hailed at the simple door but received no response.

// Huh, the lights are lit... but no one's home? //

The knight felt a little intrusive about entering the building uninvited. But worry overruled caution, and he found himself in the large homey kitchen. 

****

"Sydney?"

The hearth crackled cheerfully, but aside from that and the sound of the waves, the house was quiet. Feeling decidedly out of place, Ashley proceeded up the stairs into unfamiliar territory.

// Just /great/... prowling around his place like a bloody lurker on the slight chance that he /might/ be injured... need help... which of course he /won't/. It's just your own bloody paranoia... and what's /this/? A library? //

The room was the same area as the kitchen below but much taller, allowing for massive bookcases on every wall and some standing free. Large, ornate encased lamps were placed at regular intervals in the windowless room, casting a soft light on everything. The one shelf-less wall contained another fireplace and in front of it was a table covered in opened books. 

// There must be /hundreds/ of volumes here. I wonder... are all these here from /memory/? He'd have had to read /all/ of them when he was alive to duplicate them here... otherwise wouldn't they just be blank? But if he already knows their contents... why reread them? //

Ashley moved carefully between the shelves and saw another staircase leading upwards. He told his guilt to shove off and began to climb.

"Sydney?"

The room initially looked abandoned as he peered over the edge of the floor, but proved to be simply cluttered as he looked closer. There were very sparse furnishings on this level; a tattered couch was pushed against one wall, covered in papers. Against the other walls were several tables and racks, each covered with various tools, bottles, books and other things Ashley couldn't guess the purpose of. The cleared floor was illuminated by the narrow windows on each wall, the pale light catching the gleam of a large pattern etched into the floor, the curving runes looking spidery in the dim room.

// Lots of space for work, but nobody working... I'm running out of floors here, whelp. You'd better be hurt or not here... //

If the previous three floors had been in a strictly utilitarian style that seemed to characterize Sydney's adult life, the top-most floor was a signature of the decadence of his youth. The knight paused at the top of the stairs as the light from the large ornamental windows poured over him. Each large enough to walk out of, they covered each wall, affording views both of the forest and the sea. Their silky drapes rested on the floor and moved gently in the sea breeze. Unlike the other rooms in the tower, this one was partitioned by large embroidered screens that blocked his view of all but one small area with comfortable chairs and a low breakfast table. 

// I wonder if a person's supposed to take their shoes off... //

The woven carpet was plush and looked more than a little expensive. Not wanting to risk damaging something, Ashley reluctantly stepped out of his boots to pad across the room.

"... Sydney? ..."

// Vase, another vase, painting...plant, plant, books. Lots of books... the damn things are /everywhere/... no wonder that he calls me illiterate, how many have I read in my life, /ever/? Ten? Twenty? And almost all of them were either legal or military history... //

The knight moved around the tall screen and paused, the object of his search lying before him. The bed was low but decadent, piled high with pillows and a satin coverlet. Sydney was soundly asleep, burrowed deep in the bed, languorously limp and unmoving even when Ashley crouched to look him over. 

// He... he seems well enough... dead tired... somewhat pale... but in this light /everything/ looks pale... His sleep seems normal... best to let him be. //

Still the knight allowed himself a moment to watch the blonde's calmly sleeping face, allowing the sight to reassure him. He brushed a stray lock of hair tenderly from the youthful face with a small smile. Feeling strangely content, Ashley carefully backed out of the room and went back down the stairs.

// As tempting as those chairs up there looked... it would hardly do to be discovered, uninvited, in his bedroom... // The knight paused a minute in amusement, wondering exactly what would be so odd about that. What was so improper about a man sleeping in a friend's room to keep an eye on him? It wasn't that he felt that the blonde was a /superior/... nor was it for any other reason definable to his muddled thoughts. The Riskbreaker smiled at his own prudishness. // No, it just feels... weird. It's bad enough I've wandered around uninvited, maybe he dislikes sharing his private spaces... With luck he'll not know I was up here... and if he /does/ make a fuss... I'll tell him that I saw him drooling in his sleep... //

* * *

Sydney's mouth felt unpleasantly dry as he awoke, and he glumly realized he had probably been inhaling pillow lint for some time. He blinked blearily, trying to inspire his thoughts to greater wakefulness, but the exercise was a futile one. It was time for more drastic measures. Stumbling out of bed with less than his usual grace, he felt his way over to the basin of water and submerged his head in the chilly water before his brain could muster an objection. The shock of the water on his face produced the desired effect as his body surged into wakefulness as a panicked response. Gasping for air, Sydney allowed the water to stream down from his face and hair, fumbling for a towel, and then braced himself to look in the mirror. 

// Serves you right... pulling a stunt like that... //

He pulled a face, seeing the dark smudges still under his eyes along with other general signs of fatigue.

// Still... it was fun to be back in the game... and I could hardly just sit back and watch as they carted him off... stupid Riskbreaker... //

Feeling marginally more alive than before, the mage pulled off the oversized sleep-shirt and paused long enough to generate a loose soft outfit suitable for lounging; then he headed down stairs.

// Time for some /tea/ I think... //

The kitchen was warm and familiar as he padded barefoot down the stairs, but the large lump in front of the fire was a new development. Sydney stared bemusedly at the 6 foot man in a peasant shirt who was gently snoring on the bench by the fire. 

// Well well... Look what the cat brought in... that /can't/ be comfortable... //

The older man's legs were stretched out under the table. The rest of him was slouched over onto the tabletop, head pillowed cutely on top of his crossed arms. Ashley's soft rumbling was a source of some amusement for the mage as he quietly put a kettle over the flames and slouched into a seat, across the table from his dozing champion.

// Hmmm... you'll probably wake up soon, unless you were doing something /really/ exciting after I left... //

Sydney eventually had to get up to rescue the boiling water, and placed a second steaming cup in front of the knight in anticipation. The soft clink of china was apparently all the rousing that the larger man needed. He shifted slightly and cracked an eye open, attempting to get his bearings. The blonde watched as his partner met his gaze, and raised his teacup in silent salute to the drowsy man before taking a sip.

// Of all the Ashley's I've grown fond of since we've met, I think I like this one the best... There is something simply irresistible about the man when he's still half asleep... Something in his face just reaches into me... The only expression that can compete with this would have to be the one he gets /right/ before knocking the shit out of someone who /really/ deserves it... like Grissom... /God/ that was a satisfying fight. Lucky me... to fall for the handsomest guy I know... except for the '/beard/ phase'... /that/ was terrifying... //

"Why the sour face?"

Sydney blinked to realize that he had been staring, the knight giving him an inquiring look. He quickly schooled his expression back to a more customary smirk.

"Sorry, was having a bad 'beard flashback'..."

Ashley rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It wasn't /that/ bad."

"Yes, yes it was."

* * *

// He's /never/ going to let that go, is he... Best to distract him with something before the beard jokes start... again. //

"Question." Ashley propped his head on his hand.

"Answer." Sydney playfully copied the pose.

"How good are you at dream interpretation?" 

The mage was instantly wide-awake and serious, leaning in to check the Riskbreaker over.

"You had a /vision/? /When/? I didn't feel anything... "

"It was after you got 'bounced' back here... I tried to probe the man Michael's mind and got more than I bargained for."

"I'm all avid anticipation... do tell.."

The knight grunted noncommittally. "You likely won't be as amused when I get to the parts with you in it..."

"Me? How exciting... now I /have/ to hear this...

* * *

* * *

(1) A particularly boring and pompous little volume inflicted on all Riskbreaker Candidates during their training to guarantee that they had at least a passing familiarity with the Laws they were obliged to work outside of to uphold. Most trainees used it as a prop for wobbly tables and such. Ashley had memorized it cover to cover in two sittings and finds it a useful way of meditating when waiting.

* * *

* * *

Yeah! I've followed one monstrous chapter... with an even /more/ monstrous one! Please forgive the "action" It's lame... I know... I tried to make it cool... but I think I failed... I'm just too long-winded le sigh. Let's see comments... comments... Thank you to everyone who read "Ashes to Ashes" and wrote me to tell me that they wanted more... It was really surprising and gratifying... me so happy. This chapter was entirely written on the beach in Hawaii so any gratuitous mushiness can be blamed on sunstroke. About the footnote, I don't know what made me think of this... I guess I had that one episode of Star trek NG on the brain. (The one where Picard admits that he rereads the star fleet cadet's manual when he can't get to sleep and it tires him out.) Ashley seems the type to utilize all "waiting" times by doing something cerebral... I don't think he's a mantra kind of guy... How do you guys like Sydney's house!? We finally get to see the inside... if only briefly... very eclectic... just wait till he discovers the joys of indoor plumbing... he'll have to totally renovate. Well this is the end of the stuff that I pre-wrote over Christmas break... the next monster chapter is going to be done on the fly... expect more action, more of the boys getting in trouble, more bad guys, and more mush! (Oh baby.)

Oh yeah, another big thank you to the neuromancer site for Sydney's rehashed dialogue snippet... 

Ciao my lovelies. 

Lunar. (1-8-2001)

http://www.roodinverse.homestead.com


	3. part 3

****

Wanderings in the Waking: part 3

Mysteries, discoveries and the sound of wings.

* * *

"Regrets? Yes, I have many regrets. I live with them, that's all."

-Sydney

* * *

Notes: I'm not going to bother much with language tags in this chapter. Just assume with me that if Ashley's speaking to Sydney, it is in French, if it's to Müllencamp then he's speaking Kildean, to anyone else it's German, except Cassiel to whom I'll give the coolness value of speaking whatever the hell he pleases.

As usual "..." is reserved for Kildean, and //~...~// is reserved for Sydney when he's "talking." 

Warning: I doubt anyone reading this will get uptight, but Sydney bad-mouths the Bible a few times... if it bothers you... well the guy /is/ a pagan...

* * *

The cavernous kitchen was warm and full of tasty smells as Tam awoke, encouraging his stomach to hasten his usual morning torpor. The hunter was confused at first; the strange ceiling above bore no resemblance to his cozy home, yet it smelled as though breakfast was already on the table, and soon Mary'd be scolding his laziness like every other morning. However her voice never came, just a deep familiar rumble of a voice followed by an even more familiar cheerful laughter.

//Heidi! //

Tam came fully awake with a snap, had untangled himself from the blanket and was staggering toward the child before he had finished unsticking his tongue from the roof of his dry mouth.

"Morning Papa!" The little girl was already well through her bowl of porridge and happily presented her father with a liberally jam-coated piece of toast. Tam stared at the object in wonder before deliberately biting. He was still delighting in the sweet flavor when a second bowl of porridge and a plate of sausage slid across the table to meet

him. He looked up in amazement at the hermit's departing back, and with a little shrug pulled the plates forward to begin liberally pouring cream over the hot mash. When the larger man finally returned to the table with a third bowl, looking like some demented giant's Chief-Cook-and-Bottle-Washer in his flour-specked jacket, Tam was ready for him.

"First you cut of all your bloody hair, then you /shave/, now you /cook/? I think I liked you better when you were just a phantom of a fellow who hid in the woods; this is getting just too frightening." The trapper made an exaggeratedly cowardly face, causing his daughter to erupt into another fit of giggles. Ashley accepted the teasing stoically and continued to work his way through his breakfast, ignoring the family's banter.

"Maybe next he'll make me a pretty dress!" Tam made a production of thoughtfully agreeing with the child.

"Or maybe his next trick will be some sort of miracle, turning this cream to lager or something of the sort..." His sharp ears detected something distinctly like a sarcastic snort from the quiet man across the table. "Seriously Ash, what is our 'next trick'? What do we do about all of this? We can't just walk away... these guys were /up/ to /something/..."

Tam twirled a finger to signify the now-empty and dead monastery. 

"Yes. I know." The larger knight was not forthcoming with additional information as he silently gathered up the empty plates to dump them in an empty tub.

"So we should tell someone, right? The local sheriff, maybe? Not everything... just enough to let him know..."

"No." Ashley rubbed his face thoughtfully, frowning to feel the stubble getting long again. "No, I'll handle this; it's me they wanted after all, my problem, no one else's." 

Tam's eyes widened in surprise. "You? This was all about you? Because you helped us?" Suddenly several suspicions he had developed over the year crystallized into a rough understanding. "In helping us back there, you slipped, didn't you. These guys found out that you were a mage, and now you're in trouble, right?"

"What made you think that?" The quiet man's face betrayed nothing of his thoughts.

"Don't give me that 'I don't know what you're talking about' crap, Ash. We're friends, remember? I mean it was /pretty obvious/ that you came into the ranges to hide from /something/. At first I pegged you as one of those tree-hugging religious nuts who want to 'commune' with the forest... but you didn't act the type. I also know that some mages can find other mages by ... I dunno, wiggling their fingers or some such nonsense, and that a mage who doesn't want to be found knows to lay low, act normal, and stay the hell away from other mages." He paused, only to have the hermit calmly nod in agreement with the theory. "You did good, really, aside from that thing with the tree when we first met..." Tam still felt a faint rush of embarrassment over that incident so long ago. "And then the other day when these jokers showed up, I would've never guessed... gave me quite a shock really... to see you patch me up like that..."

"I see..." The knight morosely settled back down at the table. "Yes, well it couldn't be helped, could it... your wife would've been miserable without you." He rested his head in his hands for a moment, rubbing his forehead. "This isn't how it was supposed to be, everything has gotten rather complicated lately... but never mind it... what's done is done."

"So what do we do now? These lowlands are too flat... no place to hide. The sooner we get back up in the high-country the happier we'll be, hmmm? Get you hidden again so they leave you alone." Tam's optimistic smile died as the hermit slowly shook his head.

"No, Tam. Not 'we'... just /you/. You're right; it's not safe for you down here. Take your daughter and go home. Sell the horses, move to a new town, rebuild your life, and forget you ever knew me. If you're /very/ lucky... no one will ever come asking."

"Forget you? ...just like that?"

"You know how to get to my camp... what's left there is yours if you want it. Do me a favor and burn the rest when you're done..."

"But what of /you/? Where are you going? What will..."

Ashley held up a hand to end the stream of questions. "Enough. Let it rest." He mustered a smile for the only real friend he had made in his new life. "All will be well, Tam, I've disappeared before... and I'll certainly do it many more times 'ere I'm done. But I'm glad to have met you, I think; we had some good times... and I'm sorry you got dragged into all this."

"Bull shit." The trapper growled bitterly and then threw a guilty look towards his daughter. Heidi met his gaze with a perfectly innocent look before continuing her silent observation of the woodsman. Tam struggled to find a way of battering down the implacable man's logic. "Hell, you've saved my life what, three, maybe even four times now? By right I /owe/ you /everything/... and here you sit /apologizing/ to /me/?" He bowed his head and forced some measure of calmness. "So this is it, huh? We shake hands and you disappear forever?"

"That's the idea, yes."

"And I never talk about you to anybody... just forget you ever happened..."

"Yes."

"... Hell..." The trapper felt his stomach knotting in frustration and self-loathing. The hermit was right, he was no 'adventurer.' He was too old and too attached. Still, part of him wanted to stand up and shout 'Take me with you!' and even as he quelled it to silence it called him coward. In a moment of insight he saw how it might have been had he been younger, braver, if Heidi and Mary weren't waiting for him. He saw how it would have been to stand up and follow this strange man into the unknown. But even as he visualized the sparkling treasures to be had and battles to be fought, he realized that it would never be. It was too late for such childish fancies, and his wife was worried about him.

"I'll take care of your place... and spread it around that you've gone missing... everyone knows how dangerous the passes are at this time of year... they'll just sort of assume..."

"Thank you."

Their eyes met and then they grimly went to work searching the intact portions of the keep for anything of use. Meeting in the main courtyard once more, Ashley gently lifted the quiet child up onto the second horse and gave her a small smile of farewell. Heidi surprised him by bending over and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Ash, what about the monastery?" Tam suddenly recalled his unanswered question from before.

"I really don't know... best to burn it, I think... less evidence... not like it hasn't already been profaned." The trapper grimaced in memory of their discovery in one of the cellars. The careful rows of corpses in monk's habits told the tale all too clearly. 

"'Tis a good thing I grabbed up what I could then, huh, although I little relished 'borrowing' from a house of god."

"They understand. It's alright." Tam shot his friend an odd look, but the man's attention was fixed elsewhere. His eyes aimed towards the empty space in front of the broken chapel doors.

"What?" The word seemed to jar the taller man back to reality. Ashley tore his eyes from the doors and gave him a sheepish shrug.

"No matter... You have everything then?"

"Yes..."

"Then that's it." 

* * *

The knight was already well down the trail from the smoldering ruins by the time Sydney made his belated appearance. The trade road was a narrow and winding ribbon of dirt, stretching through valley after valley of hilly country. One moment Ashley was alone with the sound of the birdsong and the wind, the next he was accompanied by a mellow whistling to an unknown melody. The mage was content at first to simply follow, a cool presence at his back, and the wanderer shot him a curious glance. Sydney was walking backwards watching the faint smoke rising in the distance with a professional eye.

// He looks better... not as drained as before... the extra rest did him some good. //

Ashley focused again on the long road ahead of them and resettled his pack, trying to balance the load better. His stretching drew the cultist's notice and provoked a dry snort of amusement.

//~ You know... You /could/ just make yourself a mount... 'Tis not /that/ hard... ~//

The older man turned his head enough to give the blond a doubtful look. "What, summon some sort of horse fashioned of the Dark? Sounds tiring... and troublesome... 'twould likely be some sort of skeletal creature... no thank you... I prefer to walk." 

Sydney aimed a grimace at the striding man's back. //~ You'll have to get used to summoning things /some day/, Riskbreaker... you can't avoid it forever...~//

"Hmmm." The mage returned Ashley's hard stare with one of his own as they challenged each other's resolve. For a moment the blonde was certain the knight would snap at him in characteristic fashion. The small, evil grin that the man produced instead caused him a moment of dread.

"Perhaps I /should/ get a mount... but Sydney... I doubt I could comfortably support such a creature /and/ still be able to have /you/ here at the same time... and the animal /would/ be more useful..."

The cultist's eyes narrowed as he followed the older man's logic.

// I have you now, whelp. I didn't think you'd be volunteering to be ousted in favor of a horse... //

The Riskbreaker dropped the smile and blandly pushed on, aware that he was likely starting something he'd regret later, but willing to take the risk. "However, it could be said that you have proved useful from time to time as well... I can see only one solution to this quandary..."

By now Sydney was more then aware that he was being baited, but he raised an eyebrow in curiosity nevertheless.

"Sydney... turn into a horse."

The blonde stumbled in shock at the mild demand. Legs tangled, he sputtered in surprise and ire as he flailed a moment and collapsed in an undignified heap on the track. He was only confounded for a second, however, and was immediately on his feet again with an outraged //~ What?! ~//

Ashley had not halted his long strides to wait for his companion, however, and Sydney found himself luridly cursing the knight's retreating back. The mage knew with deep and grim certainty that he was being laughed at, despite the man's lack of outward response. He stamped his foot in frustration at the knight's deliberate, deadpanned teasing. 

Ashley's moments of actual humor were rare enough that they still completely flustered the prophet. Sydney was uncertain if it was due misjudgment of the man's usual taciturn nature, or that the knight's sense of humor was so rusty that he could never anticipate when his partner was attempting to provoke him. 

//~ That /wasn't/ funny. ~//

He kept his grumbling to a minimum as he caught up with his companion. The knight had paused on the crest of a hill, inscrutable as ever. The man was inspecting a signpost at a meeting of several narrow roads, carefully reading each in an attempt to get his bearings.

"There you are, whelp. Come here and make yourself useful." The deep drawl set the blonde's already ragged nerves on edge and he stamped closer.

//~ I'm /not/ a whelp... And you can bloody well read them yourself. You speak the language well enough. ~// Sydney shot the soldier a grumpy glare.

// I wonder if I can get away with another 'horse' comment... no... best to let it go...as fun as it would be, there's work to be done...//

"Didn't your tutors ever tell you not to make faces? Your face might get stuck like that, you know... and /then/ where would you be..."

//~ Do you mind? ~//

"So read the sign."

//~ Why don't you? ~//

"I can't." The man's bland statement of surrender threw the mage yet again. In his surprise, he completely forgot he had been angry.

//~/What/?~// Sydney stared in disbelief.

"I can't read Prussian... well, not very well... some of the characters aren't the same as French." Ashley shrugged in his usual mild way.

//~ But you /speak/ it... I /heard/ you use it yesterday! ~//

"Since when were the two facts truly related? I didn't learn it in a schoolroom, I picked it up from Tam and the few tradesmen we met. I know just enough to get by in a conversation... or an inquiry... these weren't precisely highly literate circles."

The mage blinked, feeling suddenly foolish at his previous assumptions. //~ Oh. ~//

"So..."

//~ Huh? ~//

"The sign?"

Sydney resisted the urge to belt the older man in the head, glaring up at the offending piece of timber as he dredged up vocabulary that had gone unused since childhood.

//~I think we go left... if you want the closest town...~//

"Thank you." Ashley calmly ignored his riled friend's grumbles of irritation and started down the slightly wider road into the woods.

* * *

Hundreds of candles provided a flickering surreal light to the large and gloomy great hall as Cardinal Lucas fought the urge to cringe. He was still in his singed and torn robes from the previous evening as he knelt on the cold marble floor in front of the altar-like dais. He could feel his master's eyes on him, cool and dispassionate, as he carefully weighed the worth of the priest's tale.

"So you say that you left your fellow priest to the 'tender mercies' of this 'dark monster' in order to buy yourself the time to flee. Such cowardice is an unbecoming trait for one of my elite crusaders, don't you think?" The voice, arch and elegant, was everything that Lucas had expected from the Divine Messenger, but its cool malice sent shivers down his spine.

"Someone needed to stay alive in order to report this /threat/ to your plans, my Lord." 

The cardinal kept his head pressed to the marble, partly as a gesture of total humility, and partly to steady his traitorously shaky limbs. There was no excuse he could truly give to justify the magnitude of the mission's failure, but if the angel could be distracted by this new interloper, perhaps Lucas would keep his head. "We underestimated him twice, my Lord. He had /strange/ powers... he is allied with the dead... things /unholy/... and his aura..." The cardinal paused a moment, realizing that he was rambling like a madman.

"Yes?"

Lucas concealed his smile at the note of interest that he detected in the smooth voice. Taking the risk, he played his trump.

"It was absolutely black, my Lord. Black as pitch, blacker than anything I've ever seen, even among the demons... a black so dark it /burned/."

// I'm going to do it... he's going to let me live and I'll watch as that vicious creature and his pet ghost are /burned/... the Metatron is unstoppable! //

"A 'burning black,' you say? Well... that /is/ something." The cardinal suppressed a new twitch of fear as the creature rose from its ornate couch with a gentle rustle of silk and feathers. The angle picked his way down the five steps to stand directly in front of his groveling servant. Lucas' elated feelings were rapidly dispelled as slim powerful fingers caught his chin and forced his head up to gaze on forbidden beauty. And the angel /was/ beautiful, its face akin to the frescos and sculptures of Rome. Lucas' eyes unwillingly flickered over the flawless skin and elegant features and settled on the generally safe region of the creature's carefully tended pale blonde hair. Despite the angel's serene countenance, his eyes betrayed his true intent. Their green depths were filled with an unspeakable cold and calculating intent. Cassiel /smiled/.

"Show me."

The priest's body became rigid as the angel's will coursed through it. Caught in his grip, the man's eyes went wide and blank, his mind laid open for callous inspection. A regal blonde eyebrow slowly arched as the events of the night replayed to their conclusion before the angel's eyes. As brief as the encounter had been, the sight of it left a sour taste in Cassiel's mouth. It was pure chance that /that/ particular man would have happened to become involved in his plans. The face was unfamiliar, but the aura...that was one the angel remembered very well. That cult, and its goddess, were supposed to have been exterminated over a century ago. 

// Like an infestation of fleas... Even one survivor can start the cycle of rebellion anew... These small gods are /irritating/. //

Feeling the need to breathe fresh, un-incensed air, Cassiel released the now-comatose priest without a care and stepped out onto a concealed balcony. Stretching his ivory wings, he propelled himself forward into the air with a powerful beat. The sound of wings gradually faded from the chamber as the angel rose higher into the sky.

From the shadows, two silent retainers stepped forward, each grabbing an arm of the mindless prelate. Moving with unhurried steps, they made their way past a room filled with whimpering captives into the quiet courtyard beyond with its spectral furnace. Lucas' body would be dealt with like all the others who had failed their lord; he would give up one last offering to the Voice of God.

The province of Eidgenossenschaft turned out to be quite a large one. Ashley had slowly worked his way across the neighboring kingdom, and had paused for a time in the capitol in order to see what information was to be had from over the border. The knight had at length secured himself a quiet corner in the modest 'royal library' to examine a variety of maps of the region. The librarian had been quick to grasp his needs despite his occasionally rough grasp of the language, and he had quickly gone about the tedious task of memorizing the charts. At first Ashley had wandered the capitol without any real goal in mind, simply asking polite questions and listening to the opinions in the taverns and streets. He had not expected to hear much of interest but was surprised to feel the level of tension inside the city; the townspeople were all very aware of their proximity to the border. His gentle inquiries succeeded in attracting the attention of the city guard and Ashley soon found that his slightly edited tale of the events at the monastery was a popular one. In a short time he found himself in a private audience with the Royal Military Advisor, a gruff and scarred man with whom the Riskbreaker had felt an instant kinship.

The situation at the border was far worse than Ashley had expected. The crusaders apparently had the entire kingdom in their grip and were now looking greedily towards the surroundings. While there had been no open acts of war yet, their demands were inflexible, and the king and council were sitting for long hours debating what course to take.

* * *

"The council is torn, you see." The general scratched his thick beard, his face speaking volumes on his opinion of the group's competence. "The king is nobody's fool, but he's young, and the threat of war on this scale is nothing to jest about... half of the nobles are practically ready to play dead already." Ashley snorted at their stupidity and the older man grinned. 

"Is their offer so appealing to the upper classes then? This church's tithes seem a bit high for your landowners to not be protesting..."

" 'Tis true... but we're a simple and religious people here, Sir Ashley." The general made a self-depreciating grimace. "Many here fear that to defy these holy-men, is to defy God himself. It is said..." He hunkered lower and glowered at his tankard. "It is said that they've no mere man leading them to victory... but one of Heaven's own angels... the 'Voice of God'... the /Metatron/ itself." An eloquent shrug was the only response to Ashley's disbelieving stare.

"Surely not. Has anyone /seen/ this 'divine visitor'?" The Riskbreaker's skepticism cut through the sudden hushed silence in the room and caused the old warrior to slouch back and rub his face in frustration.

"No, none that I've sent have returned... Not that I could make the commoners believe it if this man were false..."

"Perhaps I will go and look for myself." Ashley studied the fire thoughtfully, attempting to marshal the new information with the facts he already had. There was still frighteningly little to work with.

"Good luck, wanderer. If you survive, come by and tell me what you've found... I'll buy you a drink."

* * *

"Sydney, you around?" There was no one nearby to wonder at the knight's soft questioning of the nearby shadows. 

The ghost had departed during his morning's inquiries about town, returning to the Shadow Lands for some other activity. Sometimes Ashley could get the man's attention simply by calling his name, but this time he felt no reply and was obliged to be more formal about it. The Riskbreaker sent a small tendril of thought into the corner of his mind that he had begun to regard as the bridge between "here" and "there," and projected the question again. The response was an immediate if rather abstract affirmative. The knight waited a moment for the fragile link to solidify.

// What is it old man, I'm a little busy for 'rescues' right now... //

// Müllencamp? //

// No, research. //

// Ah... a question for you then... what do you know of religion? // Ashley immediately winced as the poorly phrased question drew a bark of laughter from the cultist.

// Which one? I've studied several. // Sydney's voice clearly broadcast the younger man's amusement. // You're referring to Christian 'lore,' of course... Well, I was given a /traditional education/ to go with my more eclectic studies... ask your question and we'll see what I can recollect. //

// Something about all of this bothers me... 'The Voice of God'... and a name 'Metatron'... which is some sort of angel? I was never an avid student of religion, even in my youth... but these are definitely Biblical references, yes? //

The mage's mind distanced itself slightly as Sydney focused his thoughts inward. The man's eidetic memory did not fail, and produced a small confirmation for the knight. 

// 'The Metatron,' highest of all the Arch-Angels, the 'Voice of God.' It is the Lord's proverbial 'right-hand,' acting as primary issuer of orders for the lesser angels and us mere mortals. This is the one supposedly responsible for informing the Three Great Kings of the whereabouts of the infant Christ, not to mention bearing the message to Lot that the city of Sodom was about to be crushed. It is said that this angel can either take the form of a choral-voiced column of light, or the more classical shape of a winged man. Why the sudden interest in little-known figures of popular mythology? 'The Voice of God' might be referring to /any/ street prophet. //

// I'm not certain... but it was a name that came up both in Father Michael's thoughts, and then again today... Those crusaders seem to be tossing that title around a great deal... if their prophet has delusions of grandeur, I thought I'd better know who he thinks I'll be dealing with. //

// You've learned something new? //

// The council here is practically convinced that these priests are serving the Lord... that they can perform miracles... //

// Ha. Ha. Ha. So could /Guildenstern/... so can /you/... magic's no miracle. It's a nuisance. //

// You've been spending too much time with me; my prejudices are rubbing off on you. //

// I can form my own opinions, thank you. Anyway... pray continue... // 

// They also say that the crusaders boast continuously of their own personal angel... that it is what leads them to victory. //

// The Metatron was not a 'battle angel'... someone's gotten their theology confused... But still... an angel... I wonder. // Sydney's 'voice' became distant as he became distracted by something he was reading. When it returned, his presence was decidedly grim. // Ashley, I have a bad feeling about this. What would you say if I told you to drop this investigation and walk away? //

// You're joking, right? //

// I'm afraid not. //

// What aren't you telling me? You've never lost your nerve before. Humor the 'stupid peasant' and explain in small words, Mage-of-Mine. // Ashley's attempt to shake the suddenly worried mood fell rather flat.

// Too complicated to explain right now... The Metatron is pure fantasy, Ashley, fabricated from the same foolishness as most of the rest of the Bible... but /angels/... they're real... and dangerous. //

// This is no time for games, whelp. 'Angels' indeed. //

// I just knew you'd say that. Yes. /Angels/. Not demented morons like Guildenstern was... but 'winged men,' seven of them or perhaps eight, the stories contradict. They have virtually limitless power, and are notoriously fickle... and /way/ out of your league, Riskbreaker. We don't have to get involved in this. If it is an angel, then one of the others will come along in time and take care of it... we can walk away. //

// And leave these people to die. // Ashley frowned as his partner refused to argue the point; the younger man's anxiety was bleeding across the link despite his silence. Something had definitely struck a nerve, but the knight remained stubborn. // I don't believe in angels. //

// Fine... by all means... Tell /them/ that... maybe they'll go away. As I recall you didn't believe in immortals, or ghosts, or dragons once... Must you always confront your 'fantasies' with a sword-point before you can cease to doubt? //

// Call it a flaw in my character. //

// Indeed. //

// Besides. I'm apparently up to my hips in this particular bog... especially if that one missing priest 'ran home,' so to speak. And my shoulders have been itching since morning... //

// What has that to do with this? //

// Call it paranoia, but they only do that when somebody's trying to find me... usually with a crossbow. //

// Fifteen years of combat experience can't be wrong, hmmm? What will you do? // 

// We will continue as planned... infiltration and espionage. //

// ... Ashley... //

// I know. I'll be careful. // The soldier rubbed his face thoughtfully. // Sydney... //

//...?? ... //

// I want all the information you have on these 'angels' of yours, books, legends, wood-cuts, whatever... Let's see what these creatures can do. //

// Understood. //

The link faded quickly as both men returned to their tasks, but Ashley found his concentration was waning. The cultist's reaction to the word 'angel' had been disturbing.

// He knows more than he was willing to talk about... and I have a feeling he's not going to be much more forthcoming later. What was that all about...? Something happened to him, I could almost see the memory when I said I didn't believe... but he hides himself too well. Tonight is going to be difficult. //

* * *

Some amount of the cultist's paranoia had definitely worked its way into Ashley's subconscious as he assembled his pack and purchased various gear and armor. The knight found himself staying more to the shadows, and caught himself instinctively scanning the crowded markets for non-existent threats. He eventually gave in to the urge to check on his partner once more, but the link was curiously quiet; Sydney had closed himself off to the Riskbreaker.

// Great... first he makes me paranoid, then ignores me... Damn but that whelp's got me wound tighter than one of his lute strings... and my shoulders still tingle... Blood Sin or not... That has never been a good omen. //

It was a simple matter during the evening to find an empty corner in the craftsmen's quarters of the castle yard. The smith was more than willing to accept a handful of coins and take a prolonged dinner. Ashley felt a little guilty for manipulating the man's mind, but he wasn't planning on causing any damage to the forge, and an evening at the tavern would hardly hurt the young armorer. The Riskbreaker needed the solitude. There were aspects to his forging that were certain to raise questions among his peers.

// Yes... like just /where/ that gem came from, and how I make the metal bend that way... and where do those spells originate... and gods know what else. //

The work required patience, skill and thought, and Ashley found himself enjoying the task despite his earlier nervousness. There was something distinctly pleasant about working in the smithy; it was not a particular aspect--not the smell of the coals, or the glow of the steel or the sound of the hammer--it was the entire experience. There was a certain logical progression for what had to be done to create a piece of armor, and yet there were still small places for the craftsman to express himself. His mood was much improved by the time he emerged from the warm shed and slipped though the darkened streets to his inn.

* * *

He knew that there was something amiss as soon as he crossed the border into the woods. It was no great deduction; the evidence struck him both physically and mentally as he stared upward in awe at the pelting rain quickly soaking him to the bone. The usually calm and peaceful forest now looked seriously foreboding, and even at this furthest point from the tower he could sense a dark tangle of emotions permeating every aspect of the world.

// What in Heaven is going on? I leave him alone for half a day... and next thing I know... I'm getting wet. //

The Riskbreaker paused for a moment and concentrated. However, the rain was beyond his control, as was the muddy path. The best he could manage was to remain dry, stopping the rain several inches above his head. Feeling decidedly worried he began the tedious trek along the nearly washed-out trail toward the sea. 

At the base of the tower the aura of pain only got worse. It echoed in his mind like distant wailing, and he winced as the feelings of anguish and loss triggered memories of his own not-so-well-buried past. Ashley staggered through the door and into the deserted kitchen. Wishing the last of the mud away, he slowly began to climb the stairs for the second time in two weeks. 

// I know he's here... but surely he realizes that he's 'leaking'... I'm almost surprised that I couldn't hear him from the oak... but no; he closed it off at the border. //

The Riskbreaker paid little attention to the library as he picked his way over to the second stairway. The various books laid out on the table did catch his eye, the word 'Angel' prominent in the text of several, but he moved past and up to the next level. He did not break his stride again until he reached the fourth level, where he was obliged to pause and lean on the wall for support as a wave of guilt struck him and tried to drive him to his knees.

// These emotions... aren't /mine/... concentrate, they can't affect you unless you allow them too. //

In the end even shielding was only partially successful so close to the source, and Ashley fell back on older methods from his training. Closing his eyes, he summoned forth what anger he could gather and, with it, cut through the confusion threatening his mind. After a moment he felt grounded once more, and allowed it to dissipate slightly, letting it remain banked in the back of his mind. This was a skill he had used many times during his years as VKP and Riskbreaker, wielding the empty yet pure emotion like a weapon to eliminate all internal obstacles: injury, fatigue, sorrow and doubt. Ashley carefully took his bearings in the dark room. The moon was obscured by the storm, but he could easily tell that the nearest set of French doors were open, allowing the rain to soak the carpet.

// Found you. I think. //

Sydney was on the balcony. The cultist's pale form was curled into a heap under the pelting rain. Water streamed from his face and hair and the heavy drops chimed depressingly off the wetly gleaming arms. The young man did not look up, nor make any sign that he was aware of the knight; he simply sat and stared stupidly at the sea, his depression seeping into everything around him.

"Sydney, what in Heaven happened?" Ashley suppressed a shiver of worry as the mage remained virtually inanimate. The sound of the rain striking the roof tiles was almost deafening.

"Sydney?" He crouched down next to the unresponsive man, uncertain how to get his attention.

"Syd? Whelp? Come... don't do this..." His instincts were positive that it was a mistake but he gently shook the man anyway. The arm in his grip shifted slightly, but still the prophet said nothing, saw nothing. In the back of his mind, the knight was able to make out the faintest of whispers coming across their weak bond, and following his only clue he attempted to touch the mage's mind. There was the briefest shiver of connection and then nothing. For a moment he stood confused, trying to determine what had changed, but then froze as a man long dead determinedly paced past him to take his place at Sydney's side.

* * *

"Sydney, for God's sake, say /something/! You haven't /moved/ for three days! You don't /eat/, don't /sleep/, don't /talk/..." John Hardin was at his wits end over his friend's behavior, growling up at the sky as the rain continued to soak his clothes. 

"It's /raining/, do you know that? Do you /want/ to sit here and get rained on?" The prophet gave no sign of caring, continuing to stare blankly at the roaring breakers. Heavy drops continued to fall but none of the three paid them any mind. "Fine then, /stay/ out here for all I care! I for one have little interest in catching my death /waiting/ for you to

make up your mind whether to live or die... I'm going in!" However, as quickly as the large man rose to go, he sank down once again, apologetic, and tried once more in a softer voice.

"Sydney, sitting out here won't bring them back. They're gone... Please come in out of the rain... you frighten me acting like this... please talk to me..." The cult-leader slowly blinked as the water continued to drip off his eyelashes. "Sydney... I swear if you don't say something /right now/ I'm going to toss you over my shoulder and haul you in front of the fire!"

"... Go away John... just leave me be..." Sydney's eyes remained fixed on some unknown point in the distance, but his whisper was unmistakable. His second in command gave him a worried glare. 

"The Hell I will, you need to stop this! Look at what you're doing to yourself!" 

"A little rain will hardly harm me, John. And I have appetite for neither food nor rest... do not fuss so, it doesn't become a man of your stature." For the briefest moments the blonde peeled his eyes away from the surging waves and gave his friend a tired look. "... Go inside... you already are going to be ill from being out here...best not to make it worse or I'll be obliged to bury you as well."

The mage curled once more upon himself, tucking his long legs closer to his chest. His eyes fixed again on the line of waves as they moved along the coast. John wavered for a moment, sweeping the water out of his short hair in a nervous gesture, but soon he began to sneeze and that more than anything drove him to his feet. His footsteps were melancholy as they slowly receded down the stairs.

Ashley had observed the one-sided conversation in silence after retreating to the far side of the balcony. His presence, phantom-like, went undetected by Hardin, as the man had moved right past him twice without sign of recognition. The knight had quickly grasped that the sight before him, while familiar, wasn't real. Somehow in seeking a connection with the comatose mage he had fallen into the man's rhythm and was seeing into what could only be a memory. Alone with Sydney, he took an opportunity to carefully look around. The exterior of the tower and coast were similar enough that he could detect no differences, but if he craned his head around the edge of the building he could make out an area in the distance where the ground was obviously charred; it looked like the remnants of some massive mage battle. That thought quickly brought his attention back to the prophet who was still huddled silently nearby. His theories were instantly confirmed as he could now see the familiar tracery of dark lines spilling over the small man's curved back. 

// But I have never had the gift of seeing into the past like he did... so which of us is controlling this, I wonder... has his power turned inwards? Or have I unlocked some new ability within myself... Either way, what happens now? Certainly /Hardin/ is merely a memory... but are you yourself? Or just some shadow... but if you /are/ here, how do I reach you? //

"Sydney." He knelt next to the cultist, hoping to better understand what was happening. The mage's immediate response was unexpected.

"Who...?" Grey eyes met his and grew wide with surprise. Ashley found it simple to read the layers of strain, regret, and sorrow in the blonde's tight expression. But there was also a chilling measure of blank incomprehension; Sydney saw him, but nothing more.

"Don't you know me? Sydney, you must have cursed my name at least twice a day, every day, since we first met..." They sat in silence as the blonde studied him carefully, torpor forgotten. The rain continued to fall on the cultist and around the knight.

"You.... You seem familiar...but I don't think we've met... Are you real? Or are you dream...?"

"I am real... but no, you haven't met me yet... or rather /this/ you hasn't..." Ashley shrugged, realizing that he was making no sense. The mage remained curious, however, and continued to stare.

"Are you from Müllencamp? Did she send you here to chide me? How is it that we have met and yet don't know one another?" 

Ashley chuckled softly at the bombardment of questions. /His/ Sydney might play the part of all-knowing teacher, but this one was far more akin to his own generally baffled state of being. The cultist raised an eyebrow at his amusement but made no remark. "I am neither from Her, nor here to chide... I was worried about you; we are something of friends, you and I. As for the rest... I'm not certain how to explain it, in truth..."

"Try."

The knight shrugged in the face of his companion's burning curiosity. "I think I met you long after /this/," he gestured vaguely at the surroundings. "You /found/ me... when I could not find myself... you /chose/ me... we talk often, but you've never mentioned anything of this... tell me, what happened here?"

Sydney's expression flickered from puzzlement to anguish and he turned away, obviously trying to center himself. After a moment he gave the man a world-weary glance and mustered the ghost of an achingly familiar smirk. "An answer for an answer... my story for your name. That way, should I meet you again... I'll know who I'm meeting."

"You won't remember this conversation methinks, but what does it matter. Very well then... you know me as Ashley... Ashley Riot."

The knight felt a sick sense of dread as the cultist stared blankly back at him. Then the man blinked. Recognition swept the aristocratic features in a visible wave as Sydney recalled himself, shaking free of the memory. Eyes went wide and then winced as he clutched his head as if in pain, the metallic claws drawing thin scratches on his scalp.

"...Ashley...?" His voice was barely a croak as he blindly reached out for the older man. "... Ashley, what just... stop." Around them the world was suddenly paused mid-event, the ocean a static seascape, the raindrops hanging in midair. Sydney shook his head again in an attempt to break free of the conflicting memories of where he thought he had been. "I was... oh how foolish. To be trapped in one's own memory..." He stared at the traces of blood on his claws in morbid interest. "It felt so real..."

"You forgot yourself... you thought you /were/ ... it was as if I was speaking to you as you were then... you didn't know me."

"I didn't...? I spoke? But this is..." The cultist took a deep breath and focused himself, only to blink in surprise. "Ashley, what are you doing in my /mind/?" 

"Trying to get your attention, you weren't moving... Are you all right?" Ashley carefully looked over the blonde and gingerly touched one of the still-oozing cuts on his forehead. The mage copied the gesture with a grimace and shrugged, his form shifting into its more customary shape. The scratches vanished. "I'm fine..."

"Then who is /that/?" The knight nodded curiously at a second Sydney still curled up on the balcony. The 'younger' version of the cultist seemed more shadowy now, more like a ghost than the mage standing beside him.

His Sydney moved to crouch near his frozen twin. "He is me... well, /was/ me..." The mage examined the image critically. "Hasn't been taking good care of himself lately, has he..." The comment, meant to be a joke, merited a grim response from the knight.

"We were talking... before you recalled yourself."

"Really? What did he say?" The mage, guardedly curious, kept his tone cool and detached.

"He was just about to tell me what the Hell happened here... the battlefield, for example." Sydney followed the older man's eyes to the blackened area beyond the trees and gave an indifferent shrug. "Sydney, what happened? And /when/ was this... Hardin looked younger, but his type are hard to judge."

The mage's eyes widened again at the mention of his old friend, but the expression was soon smoothed back into its unperturbed lines. His gaze was calculating as he chose his words. "It was some 5 years prior to Lea Monde... We were here, there was a battle, a mistake; people died... end of story. Nothing to get excited about." Ashley raised andincredulous eyebrow at the drastic oversimplification.

"What sort of battle?" He had the feeling that the tale was far more important to the blonde than his friend was willing to admit. Some soldiers liked to say that blood called to blood in times of trouble, but now the knight wondered if it was possible to say the same for grief. The mage's pain, despite the smaller man's attempt to conceal it upon waking, reached out to him, too similar to his own to ignore.

The cultist refused to be drawn out. "I'm tired, Ashley, I'm not in the mood to play games with you." The words were spoken in detached irritation but as soon as they were voiced the blonde recognized the error. The fighter's eyes had gone flat and cold.

"Games... odd for /you/ to say that... The game is yours, Sydney... it always was... I never wanted any of it. All I know is that I talked to you today for ten minutes, /ten/, and everything seemed fine! Then you block me out all day, and when I come to look for you, I find you doing a convincing impersonation of a corpse! I try to help and end up with /you/ bringing me /here/... and so /you/ tell me, Sydney. Why am I here if you didn't want me to see this? What the Hell happened this afternoon that made you want to do this to yourself?! This is somehow connected to the Angels?"

"Get out." The mage's voice was hard as he drove the Riskbreaker out of his mind. Caught by surprise, the man was driven back several feet as the world returned to its usual shape. The rain had dissipated and the woods were unblemished once more. The sheer /lack/ of emotion in the air after the earlier oppressiveness made the knight's head hurt.

"What are you hiding, whelp?" Ashley was determined to get his answers.

"Why do you care?"

"Because it might be important." He was determined to keep his arguments reasonable, certain that another outburst might silence the mage for good.

"Trust me. It isn't." They stared in silence, neither willing to back down. But the knight knew he had the edge.

"You're lying. Don't want to talk about it? /Fine/. I'll just go ask one of the others... /they/ were around then... they'll know something... Chang certainly would...Shall I ask /him/?" Under the tight lines of anger of the blonde's face the fighter spied definite signs of panic and pressed his advantage. "Or maybe Müllencamp? I'm sure she'd /love/ to gossip."

"/Don't/... I swear it has /nothing/ to do with Angels..."

"Logic says otherwise. You were obviously looking up information downstairs, you found something, it triggered the memory... what was it?" 

"Why can't you leave this /be/?!" Sydney's shout was raw and wild as he attempted to push the knight /out/ of his realm by will alone. This time the Riskbreaker was prepared and the sigil on his back flared in silent refusal, overruling the mage's desire. The blonde shrank back a little at the display of power and then turned away, attempting to ignore his unwelcome visitor.

"I can't just ignore this, Syd." Sensing the younger man's anxiety, Ashley let go of his anger, his voice weary.

"...why...?"

"Because you're in /pain/, you idiot. Do you think I'd not care? That I can't feel..." The mage slowly turned back to him as he trailed off, his eyes revealing nothing once more. 

"I don't want your pity, Ashley, I have no great /tragedy/ in my past that I beat my breast about every day. Unlike you, I have already faced my demons and have come to terms with them. This... what just happened... was an accident, it won't happen again."

"Twasn't pity I was offering." The knight rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling his frustration rise once more. The blonde was ever one to go on the offensive when his back was to the wall, in battle or otherwise. The fight suddenly seemed rather pointless. 

"What did you want then? To /console/ me? To offer me /absolution/? Do not trouble yourself... it is far too late for the former, years too late... As for the latter... it is meaningless."

"I wanted the truth. But I guess you don't think that's important. You've always preferred your /games/... your secrets. But I can't be like you... I can only be myself, I'm sorry 'tis not good enough for your confidences." 

Both men had given up attempting to stare each other down. Ashley kept his eyes focused out to sea, determined to state his peace without losing his resolve. He did not see how Sydney's expression faltered and fell with his words. The blonde's face open and vulnerable at the knight's self-reproaching comment. For a long silent interval he warred within himself over a battle he knew he had just lost. 

// What a fool I am... what he cannot take from me by force, I end up wanting to give him as peace offering. If he were a less honest man I'd swear he was deliberately manipulating me... but he isn't. He is Ashley, the man whom I can refuse nothing, even his own destruction. How stupid of me to think I could lie to myself. And how hateful of him to make me realize it... Someday he's going to /kill/ me with his kindness... good thing I'm already dead. //

"Very well." The mage had to admit that there was a certain dark humor to the situation as his calm reply caused the taller man to snap his head around in shock. For all that the Riskbreaker had explicit confidence in his every thought and action in combat, he remained totally oblivious to his worth and merits as a human being. Sydney found the blatant contradictions to be stunning as he spent more and more time with the man. Even now the knight stared doubtfully at him, confused by the sudden capitulation. The mage cracked a small smile.

"What? You're right, I'm wrong... do you want to hear the story or not?"

Ashley frowned, confusion growing. "But you just..." He closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Syd, what the Hell's going on?" The sheer plaintiveness in the deep voice almost made the mage laugh.

"You know..." The mage blatantly ignored the question, doing some quick arithmetic in his head. "That is officially the seventeenth time you've called me that in the past few weeks, I know, I counted... 'Syd'... I wonder what it means..."

"Huh?" 

"At first I thought it was just a fluke, then I was too busy to notice... but lately it seems hardly a day goes by without me hearing it... a /pet-name/, how... novel..."

"You're complaining because I call you 'Syd'?" The knight had finally wrenched his mind onto this new and completely different topic. As usual in his conversations with the mage he found himself unable to follow the random switches in mood. "If it bothers you, then tell me and I won't do it anymore."

"Bothers me? No... 'tis strange is all... no one's ever called me that before... just 'Sydney,' or 'Losstarot' or 'young lord' or the like... it sounds strange...." The blonde continued to consider the idea.

"What's so strange about an abbreviation? 'Tis usually considered a friendly thing... People call me 'Ash' all the time." The Riskbreaker shrugged mildly.

"/I/ don't. Besides, half the time that's the only name you give... hardly a challenging alias." 

"I know, but it's easy to remember." The large man hesitated for a moment, but finally curiosity won and he pulled the conversation back to the beginning. "Why didn't you want to tell me? About that time?"

"Not for the reasons you think, no doubt. I meant what I said earlier. It happened. I was upset, but I recovered. There is no unspeakable burden or any of that foolishness; a little regret perhaps, but it can't be helped." Sydney was all seriousness once more. "You see, I knew if I told you, I'd have to tell all of it... you've never been one to be satisfied with only half-answers... and it would be dangerous... will be dangerous..."

"You think this information will hurt me?"

"I think you will use it and hurt yourself, yes. Like all fighters I could hardly give you a weapon and say 'now don't use this or it will hurt' and have you sit idly by and not try it... even if it does pull you to pieces." 

Ashley raised a curious eyebrow. "I think you'd better start from the beginning."

"I think I want some tea first."

* * *

The small band of cultists made a cheerful party as they hiked along the sunny coast. Joric was regaling anyone who'd listen with his wild tales of conquest at the inn the night before, but the older men simply laughed at his tall tales. Sydney was content to walk a bit apart from the group, and they let him, granting him the distance that his exalted position deserved. He was their leader, their prophet, and their savior all rolled into one. Only one man dared to casually cross the short distance to give him a lazy smile. John Hardin was a physically intimidating man in his own right but he was a popular leader nonetheless.

"We make good time today, Sydney. 'Tis a fine day for a stroll."

"'Tis well, I have a desire to put some distance between us and that town... Something was not right there..."

John stared at his serious friend curiously for a moment before shaking his head in defeat. "Your paranoia knows no bounds lately, I sensed nothing amiss." He winced as the shorter blonde shot him a challenging look. "Of course, a little caution never hurt anyone..."

"They were /too friendly/... and they invited us to /stay/..."

"These Spaniards are a /friendly/ people... far too religious... but they seem nice enough... not like good old /French/ hospitality... I've had enough of being tossed in the stocks for a while..."

"I wonder..."

Laughing in defeat at the prophet, John rambled back over to the caroling group and joined in the bawdy ballad. Sydney shook his head in disbelief; the group would be intolerably childish for the next few days, or until the wine ran out.

* * *

"I would love to say that the attack came as a complete surprise... but I was sort of expecting it." The knight snorted in agreement with the statement and leaned back in his chair. The mage contemplated the cheery fire morosely while pondering where to continue. 

"The 'friendly village' sold you out."

"Yes indeed, it must have put a kink in their plan to have me unwilling to remain... they had to give chase, two days, they were well prepared. Mages."

"Your reputation preceded you."

It was the cultist's turn to snort. "My bounty more likely. Whatever the reason... there they were. It was... bad." The blonde's eyes were distant as he watched the battle in his mind once again.

* * *

The cultists had attempted to bolt for the woods as soon as the first horseman appeared on the hill, but they were too close to shore and were quickly hemmed in. With only fifteen men against what looked to be the better part of a troop, even Hardin was swearing bitterly at the odds. Sydney wasted no breath for the futile effort, though he grimly appreciated some of the more particularly violent oaths.

"They're not issuing any ultimatums, Sydney, that doesn't bode well for a strategy of 'capture'..."

The cult-leader gave his second a dark smile. "They don't plan on capture, John. All they need are our heads to collect the bounty."

"Bloody barbarians." The soldier growled in anger, but still gave his companion a hopeful look. "Not a chance that you could sort of..." He wiggled his fingers next to his forehead in a humorous manner. 

"They're shielded, all of them... I can neither read their intent nor their nature... still, more than half look to be mages."

"Not kidding around, are they."

"No."

"What would you do if I told you to get out of here? Teleport."

"Laugh in your face. You /need/ me."

"The cult needs you /alive/ more..."

"Don't argue, John."

"We're going to die, you know." The dark man's conversational tone could not dispel the grim analysis of the situation. 

"Are we ready to fight?" John gave his leader a baffled look.

"Yes, but..."

"Then let us make an attempt to reach the trees...perhaps /this/ will distract them." Sydney closed his eyes and began to mutter as John stood safely back. From the water behind them a plume of mist erupted, followed by one of the larger dragons he had ever seen. It moved passed the cheering Müllencamp men and fell happily upon the mages'screaming horses.

"/Run/!" John's roar drove the cultists into action as they flocked through the now chaotic ranks of the army and across the wide meadow. Many of the soldiers were hopelessly caught up in dealing with the mammoth beast Sydney had called, but there were still enough able to give chase that the cultists were obliged to fight for their lives. The prophet moved like a wrath among the chaotic mass, assisting where he could and attempting to even the odds with his considerable magic. However, he'd never been in a battle like this before. There were simply too many mages. The cultists quickly realized that to stray too far from their leader was to guarantee death, and soon even John was obliged to fall back behind the powerful shields that the blonde was sustaining. With a worried look he realized that the smaller man was beginning to feel the strain. Sydney's eyes were glassy as he channeled continuously through the Blood Sin on his back; with every battery on his shields he felt himself becoming further and further detached from reality. In the back of his mind the Dark was more than angry and it surged erratically.

"...Hardin..." The mage gritted the name out between salvos. "Get out of here... if you go straight back I can hold them until you make the woods..."

"Are you /mad/? They'll slaughter you!"

It was becoming harder to concentrate, but the cultist didn't care. For what he had in mind, the angrier the Dark was, the better. He could feel his own rage burning, carefully under control. "I can handle this... /I'll/ be fine... but I can't guarantee /your/ safety if you stay here." On the shoreline a triumphant shout went up, as some knight scored the lucky hit that dissolved the beast. "Please, trust me... /go/!"

"Son of a B... /right/... Don't do anything stupid, Sydney! Or I'll have to come right back here and save your ass." The last portion was shouted over his shoulder as he pushed the other cultists in front of him in a race for the trees. 

Sydney withstood another series of blasts from the now-increasing force arrayed against him. From the corner of his eye he could see his tall friend's retreating form. 

"Surrender, Losstarot, not even you can take on this many... even your men have abandoned you! If you come quietly now, we'll let them go. You, however, must be tried for heresy." 

The prophet stared at the helmeted man making his pompous declaration and gave him a manic grin. He then closed his eyes and unleashed his rage, opening the seals inside himself to their fullest extent. The world went red before his eyes as the Dark poured through his body unfettered, feeding off his own anger and responding to it. He had been warned that, once unleashed, it would be near impossible to control; it was a spell of last resort after all. But the sheer maddened power that obliterated his ability to reason was terrifying. Sydney's last conscious thought was a prayer that the others had gotten safely away. 

* * *

"I don't remember much of anything after that." The blonde shrugged eloquently and nervously ran a hand through his hair. Ashley's face was distant as he digested the implications of the story. There was neither the enthusiasm that Sydney had feared, nor the fear he was cautiously hoping for. If anything, the expression was thoughtful, almost one of respect. It puzzled the mage. 

"A 'spell of last resort'? Wouldn't that imply that it would kill the caster? And yet it obviously didn't..." The knight mused softly for a moment before shifting in his chair and returning to the present. "So what happened?"

"Hmmm, all I can tell you is what John told me... Things got... a little weird." Sydney propped his head on his hands. "When I... gave in... apparently it was very flashy; he said there was a pillar of black fire some hundred feet high and a flash of blinding light. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared... a bad idea as it turned out... He said... he said that when the fire faded I wasn't me anymore... I was something else."

"Like Guildenstern" Ashley murmured thoughtfully to himself.

"What?" The mage looked up in confusion.

"Nothing, go on."

"Right. So apparently I was this /thing/ and I... Well, I just started to pick off the soldiers one by one, using some attack that John couldn't recognize... The others... my men, they saw that the tide of battle was turning... and they wanted to help... They thought..." Sydney was staring fixedly at the wood grain as he forced the words out, and the Riskbreaker could easily anticipate what he would say next, waiting silently for the words to confirm his sense of foreboding.

"One of the mages, or maybe several of them, finally got the idea that they should attack... John said I didn't even flinch, just shrugged it off... like their spells were nothing... He had circled around, you see, they were planning to surprise the brigands with an attack from the side. It was luck... pure luck that had him the closest to the beach... I... I retaliated, you see... he said there was one instant where he had this crazy desire to run, and then I built this ball of light in my hands... and when I released it... things sort of exploded."

"That charred area I saw? But that was over half a mile in diameter..." The mage nodded grimly. 

"Hardin must have been faster than I'd have given him credit for... the water saved him?"

"He said it reflected most of it... but what was left was more than enough to make it nearly boil... he was able to swim far enough out of the shallows to not be cooked and then used the strongest healing spell he had. The others... they weren't so lucky."

"Too close to the blast."

"Those that weren't incinerated... well, John buried what was left... but that came later. He swam back to shore as the water cooled... and then had to wait until the rocks stopped burning..."

"Rocks?"

"Yes. Even rock can burn if you heat it enough... anyway it was almost midnight before he could look for me... he said I was right there, in the center... I had melted the ground around me for 50 feet until it resembled broken glass... but I was fine. Completely normal and unhurt, except that I wouldn't wake up. John carried me... for hours... he found an abandoned watchtower further down the coast and hid me there. That's where I woke up... here."

"And then you went catatonic in a different way..."

"... Yes." Sydney stared up at the knight's half lit features. The man's voice was disconcertingly distant. "A copper for your thoughts...?"

"Hmmm? Sorry... I just have a hard time picturing you as a berserker... you never struck me as the type."

"I resemble that remark." Sydney's usual humor was slowly returning as he shook himself loose from the painful memories. He took a deep breath. "Anyway... after three days of wandering the Shadow-Lands, almost forgetting who I was, and four more sitting there feeling sorry for myself, and a month before I felt like myself again, I swore I'd never use /that/ power again... To be that far out of control... to surrender my very sanity... No. The Dark is far too dangerous to ever do that lightly..."

"And that's why you didn't want me to find out about this? You think that I would use this trick and create a similar disaster?"

"No, I'm afraid you'll attempt this 'trick' and never recover... It took /everything/... everything I had... every scrap of training to keep from completely letting go... from going insane... but I stopped myself. I forced it to obey, and contained it once more... You don't know what it was like, Ashley... /using/ the Dark... it's very different from letting it /take over/. It... fights you... and it fights dirty. If you did this... the stress might very well shatter you... and you would become a monster in truth, something that would have to be hunted down and contained for the safety of everyone. Even if you were able to subdue it once more... there might not be enough of you left for me to put back together."

"And you think that if this /is/ an angel... my hand will be forced. I'll /have/ to use it."

"I can't make you promise me that you'll never do this, can I...?" The mage shot him a hopeless look.

"No, but nor do I ever plan to... As you say... it's an attack of last resort. It is sloppy to go into a fight knowing you'll have to use it. Besides, 'twould just be /more/ final in my case than most." The man's smile was grim. "Just remind me to name a successor first..." 

"Not funny."

The knight waffled a moment, wanting to ask one last question before the matter was closed, but uncertain of how the blonde would respond. He took the risk. 

"Sydney... what did John say you looked like... when your shape altered...?"

"What?" The cultist blinked in surprise and then frowned. "He said I went all ... golden... and that I had wings... more like a dragon than a bird... John said it was rather impressive really... how I hovered there... but he always did have odd taste."

"But you still looked... human..."

"Yes, I suppose, if you can call someone who glows like a torch with huge batwings and a bad attitude 'human'... Why are you curious?"

"Guildenstern... looked bizarre... /really/ bizarre... like some kind of bug... a man-bug..."

"Really? /Funny/... a strangely appropriate form for his personality..."

"So it's different for everyone?"

"I guess so... I've never seen anyone else do it." Sydney gave a wide yawn and took several minutes to stretch, working the last of the tension out of his muscles. Ashley watched his cat-like antics while taking the opportunity to discreetly stretch his long legs under the table, stiff from being still for such a long period. There was no way to tell how much time had passed.

* * *

"So... Whelp... what do you know about Angels...?" His bland question caused the blonde to make a comically exasperated face.

"You can't be serious..."

"Well, it was the original reason I came over..."

"Ashley... I'm /tired/...I've been talking for /hours/..." The mage's voice was an adorable whine as he gave the man his most pathetic look.

"So am I... but the information will be useful..." Ashley reached across the table to ruffle the younger man's hair and prevent him from pounding his forehead on the table.

"If you had any grasp of what a monumentally /bad/ day I've had today, you wouldn't be so hard."

"I think I can make a fairly accurate guess."

"Can we at least take a bit of a break? I think I'll fall over if I have to climb those stairs. I spent all morning finding your books, and then spent the afternoon and evening 'happily' re-living the second worst memory of my life... then getting into a fight with you... none of which were very /restful/ activities..." Sydney tilted his head to watch the Riskbreaker while still pillowing it on the wood; the older man retracted his hand quickly.

"Well..." Ashley gave the cultist a long considering look, the mage was almost positive there was a playful glint in the man's eye. "You /do/ look tired... I guess there is only one thing to do." The man rose slowly and shifted out of Sydney's lazy line of sight to move around behind him. At first the mage thought the man was going to leave, but he had no energy to get up to follow.

"Ashley, where are..." The blonde's mumble transformed into a cry of surprise as he felt strong arms lift him bodily from his seat and into the air. After a moment of careful juggling Sydney found himself gently carried across the room and up the stairs. "Put me down, you great oaf! I can walk! I can walk!"

"You said you were tired. Mind your head." The mage got a dizzying look down from his elevated vantage point and realized that being dropped would be a /bad/ idea. He gave up any pretense of a struggle and clung to the larger man, ducking his head to keep from bumping the ceiling. Ashley was moving with deliberate care as he picked his way through the library and up the next set of stairs. Sydney began to relax despite himself, and found that the Riskbreaker's muscled shoulder was at the perfect height for a pillow. He closed his eyes against the disturbing image of being suspended /over/ the edge of the stairs and managed to resist the urge to snuggle closer to the large man's warmth. 

The mage was nearly asleep in the short time it took Ashley to carry his slight frame to his bed and gently settle him in. However, he was not so far gone as to let the knight escape easily. "That was terrifying."

"You rather seemed to enjoy it." The knight gave a small smile in the dim light and move to go down stairs. "Get some sleep."

"Humph." Sydney pegged the man in the head with a precision pillow throw. "What are you going to do?" 

"Read."

"You're exhausted, you won't get more than 10 pages. Especially the Latin..." The knight visibly winced at the thought and turned to give him a defeated look.

"You have a better idea? And don't say you're coming too..."

"No. You were nice enough to get me here... here I stay. I'm just thinking that you don't need to do the reading."

"I don't?"

"No, because I've already done it."

"How does this help /me/?"

Sydney sighed in frustration and gave the man a long look. "You're willing to share my thoughts in order to witness my deepest darkest secrets... but not to glean a bit of innocent academic information... I do believe you're a voyeur, Riskbreaker." 

The knight refused to rise to the bait, giving him a troubled look instead. "That wasn't supposed to happen... I don't think it would be a good idea."

"Don't trust me... I understand." Ashley blinked in surprise at the mage's candid comment. Sighing softly, he sat on the edge of the bed next to the blonde.

"I didn't say that. I just... Prowling around in people's heads feels wrong..." 

"You won't be /prowling/." Sydney snorted primly and pulled off his shoes. "Here, it'll be just like the first time we 'spoke'... get comfortable." The mage tugged him further onto the mattress and onto his back. Sitting near the knight's head, he gently cupped his face. "This will be much easier if you relax."

"I..." Ashley changed his mind mid-argument and reached out with a tentative thought. // Very well... what now? //

The mage bent over him with a small smile. // Now... you /learn/... // The knight's eyes went wide in surprise as the information came flowing over the link: images, and stories, first person reports and conjecture, each piece was slightly flavored with his partners distinct opinions. Some pieces were highlighted, others dismissed as irrelevant. It was almost as if he was with the mage as he collated the data, the blonde's voice running quiet analysis in the background as he absorbed everything there was. Surprised at the ease of the thing, Ashley gingerly tested the new memories but found nothing wanting.

// That was it? It was... easy... //

// /Yes. / Yes it was, wasn't it. // Sydney gave a tired laugh at the older man's bemused reaction. // Imagine how much faster you'd have learned Kildean if you'd been a little more flexible... //

// Well, I'll know now for next time... // The knight accepted the teasing mildly, but the cultist felt the unvoiced additional overtones and had to agree.

// You're probably right, it was better to do it the hard way... It gave us time to get used to each other again, didn't it... //

// Stop that. //

// Stop what? //

// ... prowling... // 

// Think more quietly then. // Sydney's gentle touch belied his scolding as he smoothed the knight's hair, admiring his resting face. The touch caused the man to crack a curious eye, his thoughts almost regretful.

// I should let you sleep. //

// Don't go. // Caught in the midst of trying to rise, Ashley looked in surprise at the hand pushing him back down and then up at the mage.

// ... I don't understand... you want me to stay? //

// Well, maybe I want some company... If you don't mind. Sometimes... sometimes I hate being alone... //

// Nightmares? Here? //

// Memories. // Giving in to temptation, Sydney shifted until he could pillow his head again against the knight's shoulder. // The bed's more than big enough for two... // The taller man stubbornly refused to blush at the mage's sleepy comment. The blonde's body was a warm pressure against his arm. 

// You said that what happened in Spain was the second worst memory in your life... what could be worse than that, I wonder...// The knight mused softly to himself as he watched the cultist laying next to him. Grey eyes fluttered open to his surprise and gazed intensely at him.

// Being abandoned. // 

The words were barely a whisper but Ashley could sense how much the silent admission cost him. Afraid to ask any more questions of the melancholy blonde, he kicked off his boots and pulled the man closer, carefully tucking him against his side. Sydney silently adjusted to the new arrangement and after a moment hesitantly draped a thin arm across the knight's broad chest. A large hand rose to tangle itself in his hair and he couldn't resist a small, happy sigh. The mage closed his eyes once more, and allowed the warm presence to lull him to sleep.

* * *

Ashley slipped from the restful doze into full wakefulness, unaware of any transition. He blinked his eyes and blankly patted the bed, wondering for a dazed moment where the mage had gotten to. It wasn't until the late morning sunlight registered on his tired brain that he realized what had happened.

// You woke up, stupid. Happens all the time... // He grimly pulled himself from bed, surprised at how late he had managed to sleep, and splashed some water on his face. Eventually awake and feeling moderately more alive, Ashley gently touched his partner's dozing mind, giving it a slight nudge.

// Wake up a bit, whelp. //

//...Ashley? Where'd you... Oh... right... /morning/... I feel like I was hit in the head with a brick... tell me you don't need anything for the next several hours? //

// Go back to sleep. I just wanted to check on you, that's all... //

// Thank you... I think... call me if you need me... or when you decide to make a go at the border... //

// After sunset. //

// Fine... see you then. //

The small bed looked suddenly more appealing as the presence in his mind settled back into contented sleep, but he shook off the echoes of laziness and went out to continue his hunt for provisions and information.

* * *

* * *

Behold ch.3 , which despite my best intentions /does not/ wrap up the book.../sigh/ so one more chapter ought to do it...and then never fear, there's a whole 'nother tome on the way! (dear god). Whee we get to see /another/ goodbye (Ashley just can't keep a friend for more than a chapter or 2 jeez) lots of gratuitous silliness, an intro to our villain of the month... (Jeez took me long enough), a Sydney flashback (Go Sydney!), and more mush... tossed in because, damn I felt like it! Gotta keep you guys coming back /somehow/! So stay tuned for more sword+sorcery fun! More plot, more evil, Ashley gets hell'a'angry, and things go boom! Do high magic and mental trauma mix? (not bloody likely) Will Sydney play with fire only to get burned? Is Cassiel partial to blondes? (hell if I know!) We'll find out together in the final thrilling installment of "Wanderings in the Waking" cue corny drama music

or as my Editor in Chief says: "Oh, no, more good stuff, whatever will we do? ;)"

I love it when people pander to my ego...

Massive massive thanks to my EiC and Twig, to whom all of you owe gratitude for them having convinced me not to ball up this chapter and use it for kindling, it's here... be afraid.

Oh yes Word has been giving me some…. issues… when I've been doing my html conversion…(spacing foo) if it bugs you/ you notice glaring errors let me know and I'll ponder how to correct this… sorry sorry

right, off I go.

Lunar.

lunarlight@usa.com

[http://www.roodinverse.homestead.com][1]

   [1]: http://www.roodinverse.homestead.com/



	4. part4

**Wanderings in the Waking:** part 4

Conflict and Catharsis

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"Angels were... well, still are... troubling."

-Ashley

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Notes: same old same old. //~ ... ~// is Sydney talking, // ... // is thoughts in general. ... is Kildean 

Warnings: This chapter means it when it says..."conflict"... it gets dark... and gory, Ashley has some issues in his past that come back to bite him and other badness happens so consider yourselves warned... Never fear, in the words of the great Madamhydra "Repeat after me, this is not a dark-fic, this is not a dark-fic..." (Hence "Catharsis") /right/, back to the regularly scheduled program.

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